Avatar: Chronicles of Ryu
by AnonAuthor16
Summary: Avatar Korra fought valiantly to restore peace. But unfortunately, she lost her battle. After her untimely demise, she is reincarnated into an orphaned boy from Omashu. Will Ryu be able to bring peace to the unbalanced world Korra left him?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! This is supposed to be the next cycle of the Avatar, only the first chapter.**

 _After Korra's death, Raava continued with her cycle of the avatar with Earth next._

He woke up. A 15-year-old boy, tall, lanky, shady-skinned boy with black curly hair. He got out of his hard bed and walked to the bathroom to go to school. In the city of Omashu, education was always held to such a high standard that even orphans like Ryu had to go to school. A program was started in order of Ba Sing Se 16 years ago had orphan children sent from around the nation to Omashu to get the best education possible. Each child is given a bedroom with a bathroom, and must go to school. Ryu got to the bathroom and started to get ready. First a shower to wake him up, then his teeth, then clothes, and finally clean up. That has been his process for the last 8 years after he was found on the outskirts of Gaoling. He grabbed his bag and opened the door, as he accidentally kicked his pail of water by the door. "Ouch!" he yelled and closed his door back so he could clean up without embarrassment. He picked up a rag and cleaned up the mess. As he cleaned up, he felt a strange feeling again. Around water, he felt a strange feeling, similar to the feeling that he gets with earth when earthbending. Almost as if he has a grip on it. He ignored the feeling once again, cleaned up, and left for school.

After leaving his room, Ryu walked to the fruit stand and purchased an apple for breakfast with the allowance he gets from Ba Sing Se. As he walked to school, he ate his apple. While walking, he suddenly stopped, and focused his eyes on the situation in front of him. An old woman was trying to catch a goat running in the streets. She then fell to the ground and started weeping.

"What's wrong, ma'am?" Ryu asked.

"The goat! It's...it's getting away! My son gave...her to me before he joined the army!" she said through her sobs.

As the goat started to disturb other people, running away, Ryu lifted the earth right beneath the goat. As the goat stood still, he brought the lifted rock over in front of the old lady. As the rock descended, the old lady clipped a leash to her.

"An earthbender! Thank you, this goat means a lot to me!" The old lady said. "It seems as though I stopped you as you were going to get an education. My shop is over there, you can come and get a cup of tea any time you want." She said as she pointed to an older shop with the oldest door on the street "Now go to school, earthbender!" she said as she took the goat with her back to the shop.

"It seems as though I stopped you as you were going to get an education. My shop is over there, you can come and get a cup of tea any time you want." She said as she pointed to an older shop with the oldest door on the street "Now go to school, earthbender!" she said as she took the goat with her back to the shop.

When Ryu arrived at school, he went to the courtyard to see his best friend, Yin, arguing with other friends in the group.

"Yes, he can! When he gets here, I'll have him make you feel like a fool!" Yin said.

"What are you guys arguing about?" Ryu asked while walking over.

"Ryu! I was telling them about the voices that you can make, and they don't believe me. Do one of em'!" He said.

Ryu then closed his eyes and thought about the old man with a very long beard and Fire Nation clothing that had shown up in his dreams.

"See? I can do different voices." Ryu said in the voice that the old man would speak in in his dreams.

He opened his eyes again and saw them all bewildered except for Yin with a very I-told-you-so look on his face.

"Can you do others?" Pao, another friend, said in a puzzled tone.

Ryu closed his eyes again and focused on the Bald man with Air nomad clothing and blue tattoos that also appeared in his dreams.

"Yes, I can," Ryu said with this man's voice.

Right after that, the school bell rang, and they all went to class.

 **Please leave comments and ratings, as I would like to see what you think. Based on ratings, I will release the already typed chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

The first class was easy for Ryu, as mathematics was easy for him. The next class was bending trials. Ryu, being very close to becoming a master at earthbending, was at the top of his class for earthbending. The other tops for the other elements were Yin for water and Lee Tin for fire. Bending education classes would have them go head to head to see who the best benders were. Those who mastered their elements were given recognition, even deemed a master of their element. When Ryu got into the chambers, he saw Yin and Lee Tin fighting. The arena was a warmer temperature for firebenders, and the platform was made out of solid earth. The platform was surrounded by water to accommodate waterbenders, which Yin was using to his advantage.

As Lee Tin would send bolts of fire, Yin would extinguish them. Yin then jumped up and created an extended arm of water that wrapped around Lee Tin's forearm. When Lin landed, Lee Tin punched him in the stomach and tossed him into the water. Lee Tin threw his hands into the air.

"I WIN AGAIN" He yelled. "Who's next?"

He asked as Ryu jumped to help Yin. He stepped into the water and helped him up.

"You're next." Ryu heard while helping Yin up, but ignored.

As they tried walking away, Lee Tin yelled, "Curly, you're next!"

Ryu whipped his head around to see Lee Tin in a ready stance.

"I don't want anything to do with you, Lee Tin," Ryu said in a calm voice while continuing to walk.

Lee Tin then sent a bolt of fire right in their path.

"I said you're next." He said while getting back into his ready stance.

"Yin, go," Ryu said.

"Don't let your emotions get the best of you Ryu, I-" Yin said before Ryu cut him off.

"I'll be ok, go sit down." Yin sat down with the rest of the students in the class. Ryu then got into his ready stance.

They then circled the arena for a minute, which felt like an eternity to Ryu.

Just as Ryu thought that they were going to be circling each other for a while, Lee Tin went on the offensive.

Ryu tried to dodge Lee Tin's strikes, but it was too much; Lee Tin kept moving. Getting close to him was no option, as he remembered what he did to Yin. He tried jumping up with a boulder and launching it at him, but Lee Tin's rapid movements and quick attacks made it impossible to attempt. He kicked two strikes of fire towards Ryu, and Ryu bended a wall of earth to protect him. After the strike hit the earth, Ryu kicked it towards him with excessive force, enough for Lee Tin to barely dodge it. Ryu then kicked the earth right under Lee Tin up, making him have to dodge another obstacle. Lee Tin then got mad and sent a continuous bolt of fire to Ryu.

After a few seconds, Lee Tin stopped, and the rock that Ryu used as a shield at the last moment sizzled with heat. Ryu looked at his forearm to see that he got mildly burned by Lee Tin. He then catapulted himself into the air, surprising Lee Tin. When he hit the ground, he struck it with his fist, creating a shockwave with earth rising and falling towards him, until the earth underneath Lee Tin launched him into the air. Ryu brought up a medium-sized rock and kicked it at Lee Tin, who started to fall. Lee Tin hit the rock and started moving towards the wall slamming into it and falling into the water.

Ryu stood up, and examined his wound, as it started searing with pain. He took his rolled up sleeves and put them down so nobody would notice. Pao, who recently sat down in the audience, and Yin came down and started clapping with the rest of the class.

Ryu went to go sit down with the others as Lee Tin went to clean himself up, obviously irate.

They watched the others, who had more civil trials. Ryu tried to ask Yin questions about history, which Yin had but he didn't have yet. Yin gave one-word answers and would continue to talk to Pao, who Yin always hangs out with. Ryu started to feel embarrassed as he felt third-wheeled once again. These times always made him think about his friendship with Yin. The neglection from Yin will fluctuate, without consistency.

 **These are short chapters, I know, I plan on the others being longer. Please comment and PM me if you have any ideas!**


	3. Chapter 3

After Bending Education, Yin, Pao, and Ryu went to lunch. When Ryu got his lunch, he went to their table, to find that it was already full. The spot he had saved was also occupied by someone he barely knew. He walked up to the guy, and realized he had seen him before a few times, but didn't know from where.

"Uh, hey guy...I sit there, can you find somewhere else to sit?" He said as gingerly as possible.

"Uh, no. Go." He said.

Without asking for a confrontation, Ryu decided to find somewhere else to sit.

He found a table with only two chairs and sat in one of them. Soon after he sat, Syu, a girl who he was friends with, sat down in the other seat. Syu was found in the same area as he was in Gaoling, and they were relocated at the same time.

"I thought you sat with Yin and the others?" She asked. "

I do, but I chose not to today." Ryu lied.

"You know I can tell if you're lying, don't you?" She said, and he looked up wide-eyed.

"How?" Ryu asked,

"Secret," she said.

She was an earthbender, like him. Stubborn about everything.

"Now, what really happened?" Syu asked.

"Someone took my seat, so I sat here," Ryu said.

"Oh, did Yin say anything?" she asked.

"No, he…kind of ignored it. Stop being nosy." Ryu said.

She put her hands up "Alright, I will, sheesh." Syu said. They continued to eat lunch

When lunch ended, they went to meditation classes.

They were to become intact with their 'spiritual selves' as the Miss Konyetsko, the meditation guide, would say. When they got in, Miss Konyetsko had them sit on their cushions and begin. Dreaming would rarely follow from this, but today, the characters showed up. The old Air Nomad sat at the table fashioned from earthbending. They drank tea, talked and laughed. Ryu thought about trying to walk over, but all the other times he did, the dream would go away. He thought that he might as well try, and took a small step.

The dream didn't go away. In fact, it advanced. A water tribe woman walked over to the table and sat down. The men poured her a cup of tea, and they talked. Ryu walked as slowly as possible over to the table, and when he arrived, the water tribe woman looked up.

"We have a visitor." She said, and the other men looked up and smiled. "

H...Hello," Ryu said.

"Hello, Ryu." The air nomad said.

"How do you know my name?" Ryu asked nervously.

"I don't know you, do I? Do all of you know me?" Ryu started to instinctively back away.

The water tribe woman closed her eyes, smiled, and shook her head. "You're close to knowing the answers." She said. The dream went away with the period coming to a close as well. They left class and went about with the day.

When school let out, Ryu walked to his building. While walking, the burn started hurting more. He rolled up the sleeve so that the fabric wouldn't brush against it. While continuing to walk, he remembered the events that happened this morning. He saw the boulder he used in the middle and started to giggle. He saw the old lady's shop and paused. Ryu looked at where the sun was. '

 _I have to be home by sunset.'_ He thought as he walked in and walked to the counter.

The old woman smiled. "It's the earthbender! What would you like dear?" She asked.

"Just a cup of tea will be fine, thanks," Ryu said.

"Ok, I'll have it right out." She said as Ryu started to pull out his money.

"No, don't worry about paying." She said. He put his money back.

"Oh...Thank you." He said. He said down at an empty table and waited.

The old lady came up to him with the cup of tea. She put it down with napkins. "Thank you," I said. She paused for a moment. "What happened here?" she said as she pointed to his burned forearm.

"I got burned," Ryu said, trying to avoid eye contact with her.

"Was that recent?" she asked.

"Yes, it happened today," Ryu said.

"Follow me." She said.

When Ryu turned around, she walked through a doorway in the back of the store.

Ryu walked down the hall and heard one of the four doors close. When Ryu walked to the door, he opened it, and saw the old woman in a dark room, dimly lit by candles and a pail of water. She sat down and pointed to a cushion.

"Take a seat." He sat down, and she grabbed his arm.

"These marks could only be made by a firebender. Did somebody burn you?"

She asked. "Yes, we were in bending education," Ryu responded.

She raised her arm and the water rose out of the pail. She covered his arm with the water and closed her eyes. The water glowed to a vibrant blue, and Ryu was amazed.

When the water stopped glowing, Ryu's pain was gone. "I never knew waterbenders were able to do that.." He said as he moved his arm.

She started to pick up the pail when she turned around.

"What year were you born in?" she asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Um...184," Ryu said. She turned to him fully.

"You were born in the year of the Avatar!" She said. "The what?" He asked,

"The Avatar! The bridge between the spirit world and ours! Master of all four elements! Didn't they teach you this in school?" She said.

"Kind of...I don't know." Ryu said.

"I have to go, it's getting late, thank you," Ryu said as he hastily walked out of the door, and out of the tea shop, leaving his now cold cup of tea.

He rushed home as fast as he could to arrive before curfew.

When he got to his room, he started to get ready to go to bed. He thought back to the old woman's last comments and wrote her off as crazy like he thought he should have this morning. He took his shower, put on his night clothes, and went to bed.

When he went to sleep, the dream came back. The three people were back at the same table in the same field. Instead of trying to creep up, he ran to them instead of taking time away from the dream. The three looked up, and the water tribe woman spoke,

"Hello, again," she said calmly.

"Answer my question this time, who are you?"

Ryu said forcefully, demanding their names.

The man from the Fire Nation was the next to speak. "We are you." He said as if it meant nothing.

"What?" Ryu responded,

"We are your past lives." The Air Nomad said and smiled.

"I...I don't understand." Ryu said, baffled.

The Water Tribe woman got up and said, "Do not worry, you will understand in due time."

She walked over, and placed her hand on his shoulder, and took her other hand, and placed it on his head. She closed her eyes, breathed in and exhaled while Ryu stood as still as he possibly could. She opened her eyes, and a white glow replaced her eyes. The others eyes did the same, and the Air Nomad's tattoos started to glow as well.

The dream then went away, and when Ryu awoke, he had little to no recollection of it.


	4. Chapter 4

He started getting ready for school earlier than he usually did, due to him not being able to go back to sleep. As usual, he took his shower, teeth, clothes, and cleaned up any mess around the apartment. He then left for school earlier than he usually did.

He took a different route to school to avoid the crazy old woman's store in case she was outside. The walk was longer, but he had the time to do it.

When he arrived at school, he went outside to only Yin and Pao outside, laughing. He sat down in an empty spot on the bench.

"Hey," he said in a soft tone, still annoyed from yesterday.

But it was fruitless, as Yin didn't hear him. Yin and Pao continued to talk as Ryu sat and thought about what he could remember about the dream. The only thing he could remember is when that old Fire Nation man called them consubstantial to him. They all seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't remember where he saw any of them. until their attention focused on behind Ryu. Ryu felt the ground under him, but before he could turn around, Lee Tin slammed his hand into the table.

"Rematch, curly." He said.

"Haven't they taught you how to speak full sentences yet?" Ryu said with a smile.

He grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up. "Rematch me, here, now." He said.

"Do I have a choice?" Ryu asked.

Lee Tin dragged him into the grass, and put him down, and continued walking, getting in a ready stance. Ryu got up and did the same. They stood in their ready stances for what felt like an eternity, until Lee Tin kicked a bolt of fire towards Ryu, and Ryu leaped into the air, using earthbending, and created a platform to land on. He then started to tear the platform apart, sending large projectiles of it to Lee Tin, until one hit him, and he fell.

"Give up yet? We'll ruin this courtyard if we continue." Ryu yelled.

He got up, breathing heavily. He then did a backflip, creating a ring of fire that knocked Ryu off of what remained of the pillar.

"RYU!" Yin yelled as he pointed to one of the metal beams that supported a cover to a walkway.

Ryu gathered all of his might, and was able to tear a small rod off of the beam, and it flew towards him. He caught it and charged towards Lee Tin. He used the rod as an extension of his arm and swung while bending rocks that Lee Tin dodged. He rammed the rod into the ground, and it caused the earth between them to raise as Lee Tin narrowly dodged the attack Ryu raised a piece of earth and launched it to Lee Tin. The earth hit Lee Tin and knocked him back considerably. Lee Tin got up and charged towards Ryu, grabbed ahold of the rod, threw it to the side, and pushed Ryu back to the platform. Lee Tin then punched a continuous bolt of fire to Ryu, and Ryu tried to bend a wall of rock to protect him.

With his hands still up, he looked over to Yin and Pao as they stared in amazement. He looked at what they were looking at too and saw the amazement. Ryu didn't bend a wall of rock, but rather one of fire. When Lee tin stopped, he did too.

" _I can firebend?"_ He asked himself as he punched the air, and a bolt of fire went hurdling towards Lee Tin, who had to dodge it.

" _I can firebend!"_ He said to himself.

He then jumped in the air using earthbending and punched multiple bolts of fire towards Lee Tin. He landed, and Lee Tin tried to retaliate by doing a continuing bolt of fire, and Ryu blocked it. He then kicked towards Lee Tin, who dodged them. Ryu then made a continuing stream of fire and knocked Lee Tin on the ground, and he didn't get up for a while. He turned with a smile to not only see Yin and Pao in amazement but the headmaster astonished as well. His smile quickly faded when he saw the Headmaster and the damage he caused to the courtyard. Headmaster Ho then walked with a purpose over to Ryu and he stopped, as Ryu knew he was in big trouble for leveling the courtyard. His heart started to beat faster and faster and he felt like starting to run. The headmaster then got on his knees and bowed down in front of Ryu, leaving Ryu with an astonished face. The man who would make the rest of the students fear him was now bowing down in front of him as if he were a deity.

"It would be an honor to serve you, Avatar Ryu." He said in such a venerating tone that it left Ryu feeling unsettled.

He looked up to see Yin and Pao still staring in amazement, obviously not knowing what to do.

 **And that's Chapter 4! I still have some chapters that are already typed, just let me know if you want to read them, and I'll post it. Please leave reviews or comments, follow, and favorite if you like the story.**


	5. Chapter 5

After a few seconds, Headmaster Ho got up.

"Follow me." He said, with the calmest voice that Ryu ever heard from him.

He followed him through the halls as some people looked, and others didn't know. Ryu looked straight ahead as not to look at the gawking faces. He followed Headmaster Ho through the halls, up the stairs, all the way into a part of the school he had never been in, the meeting room. He went to the end of the table and pulled out a chair. Ryu stood motionless and stared at him.

"Please sit down." He said. Ryu walked to him and sat in the chair. "I'll be back." He muttered as he rushed out of the door.

After a few minutes of silence, he could hear the chatter of a few people outside. After a few minutes, the headmaster walked back in with the 3 principles. The water tribe principle gave Ryu a nasty gaze, as Ryu knew he didn't like him. He sat down at the other end of the table and the earth and fire nation principles did the same, as the headmaster stood.

"What did he do?" the water tribe principle said arrogantly.

"Well hello to you too…" Ryu said under his breath.

He stood up fast out of his chair. "What did you say?" He asked in a very rude tone.

"Principle Yau, show respect to the Avatar." Headmaster Ho said demandingly.

Yau turned wide-eyed and looked at the Headmaster, then turned to look at Ryu. He sat down and lowered his head.

"How do you know this information, Headmaster?" The fire nation principle asked while she too looked astonished.

"Well, Principle Shizun I found Ryu fighting another student in the courtyard, using earthbending. After a while of watching his wonderful earthbending skills, He started to firebend."Ho said.

Principle Shizun had a stunned look on her face. "H-How long have you been able to firebend, Ryu?" She asked.

"That was the first time I have. I didn't know that I could." He responded.

"Well, there is a way to prove it even more," Yau said.

He pulled his arms back and pushed them forward. The water from his water skins came out into a big ball in front of him. He lowered the water onto the table and it flattened onto the table, forming the shape of the tabletop, but not a drop spilling onto the floor.

"If you're the Avatar, you'll be able to freeze the water on the table." He said in a degrading tone.

"Go ahead, do it," Yau said.

"I can't, I don't know how" Ryu responded.

He felt his connection the water like he always did, but it tempted him more than it used to. He concentrated on the water as hard as he could and thrust his left hand forward, and a bit of water rose from the table and splashed Principle Yau in the face. "

Ah!" He said as he tried to use his clothes to dry himself.

The water poured off of the table and the fire and earth principles started to laugh to themselves, and Ryu laughed.

"I cannot believe that the Avatar reincarnated herself into some delinquent like you," Yau said.

"And I can't believe someone can be so condescending!" Ryu said loudly.

"Why you little…" Yau said as he raised the water from the ground into separate tentacle-like objects.

"It's time someone showed you a lesson," Yau said as the tentacles started to inch towards Ryu.

"Enough! Yau put those away now!" Headmaster Ho said. Yau didn't listen, and the tentacles continued to move closer. Ryu then punched a bolt of fire to one, and it went away in a ball of steam.

He did the same to the rest, and Yau stood there stunned.

"Yau, please go back to your office, your services are no longer required for now," Ho said.

"I'll go contact the White Lotus and tell them we've found the Avatar." Headmaster Ho said as he left the room with the fire and earth principles with Ryu.

It was an unsettling silence for about five minutes until the earth principle broke it.

"There is a way to tell if you're the Avatar." The soft-spoken Principle Haruntin said.

He got up and approached the cabinets behind Ryu with a key. He opened the lock on one of the cabinets and pulled a few pictures out of them. He put one of them on the table.

"Do you know who this is?" Haruntin asked.

The picture was of the water tribe woman that Ryu had recently seen in his dreams. He nodded.

"Who is this?" Haruntin asked.

"That's Avatar Korra," Ryu said unknowingly.

"How do you know?" Principle Shizun asked.

"I don't know, I just sort of...know it. She's shown up in my dreams before..." Ryu said.

He put another picture in front of him, this time of the air nomad with tattoos.

"Do you know who he is?" Haruntin asked.

"Avatar Aang," Ryu responded.

Haruntin looked at Shizun and nodded. They both lowered their heads. "If all signs didn't point to it, then they do now, Avatar Ryu." Principle Shizun said.

Immediately after Shizun finished speaking, Headmaster Ho walked back in.

"Avatar Ryu, we've gotten a message back from the White Lotus. Please go home, pack your things, and be back here for sunrise. You will be taken to Ba Sing Se." He said with his head lowered.


	6. Chapter 6

He rushed home to start packing.

When he got to the complex, it was almost empty as everyone was at school. He rushed up the stairs to his room and got in as fast as possible to avoid anyone who was there from seeing him. He got in and closed the door behind them. He sat on the ground to think about what he was just told, and it kept ringing in his ear. He tried to look on the bright side, and how going to Ba Sing Se was always a dream to the others, and he's about to go. As much as he tried to think about the positive, the whole Avatar issue crept back up. Ryu got up and pulled out a duffel bag and started packing clothes.

About the time the school let out, Ryu heard someone wrapping on the door. He opened the door and saw Syu.

"I heard about what happ- what's going on?!" She said as she looked behind him and saw the mess and packing.

"I-I can't tell you," He said as he tried to get back to packing, but Syu grabbed his arm.

"You better tell me what's going on Ryu, or I'll punch you in the face no matter who you are." She said as she looked up to him.

"They're sending me to Ba Sing Se…" Ryu said.

Her visible anger then turned to a blank expression. "So...you _**are**_ the Avatar…" She said in a devastated tone.

"I guess...I guess I am…" He said, overthinking the situation.

She punched him in the shoulder as hard as she could.

"OW!" Ryu yelled as he pulled her in and closed the door.

" _ **How can you do this to me?! Leave me here?! While you go off and become important, you'll forget all about me!**_ " She yelled as tears started to stream down her face.

Ryu hugged her. "I could never forget about you. We're family, family never gets left behind."

She pulled herself away. "You mean that?" she asked as she wiped her tears away.

"I promise I'll write to you as frequently as I can, just do me a favor." He said to her.

"What?" She asked.

"Master Earthbending so we can take over the world." He said smiling.

She started to grin and walked towards the door. She reached for the door but turned around.

"I don't care if you're the Avatar. If you don't write to me, I'll find you, wherever you are, and I will kill you." She said.

"I promise you won't have to do that," Ryu said.

She opened the door and walked out.

He continued packing his stuff for another hour or two until he heard another knock on the door. Ryu opened the door to see Yin with his arms folded and leaning on the door seal.

"Well Hello, Avatar Ryu…You gonna use Airbending on Lee Tin tomorrow? " He said.

"What do you want?" Ryu asked.

"I wanted to know why you never told your best bud that you could firebend." He said, walking into the apartment closing the door.

"So now I'm your best bud?" Ryu said, visibly mad.

"Woah, don't get too mad, or else you'll start breathing fire," He said, trying to lighten the mood.

"You don't get it do you? You have constantly been dragging me down and neglecting. But as soon as I have something, you want to be right next to me!" He said.

"Dude, what's up with you?" Yin said.

"You have been all over the place for the last couple of years, and I'm tired of it. Why are you here? To come with me?" Ryu asked.

"Well, you do need someone to teach you waterbending…" He said.

Ryu shook his head and continued packing. "Where are you going?" Yin asked.

"Ba Sing Se," Ryu said in an annoyed tone.

"Look, I don't know how you think I am 'all over the place', but-" Ryu cut him off.

"Leave, now. I could really do without seeing you ever again." He said, madly trying to cram things into another bag.

"Do you really mean that?" Yin said with a hurt look on his face.

" _ **Leave!**_ " Ryu yelled.

"Fine…" He said as he walked to the door and closed it.

But as soon as it closed, Ryu regretted what he said.

He finished packing and got ready for sleep, with the argument that Yin and he had still fresh in his mind. He tossed and turned for a while, but finally went to sleep.

He opened his eyes to see himself on a big flying furry creature. He held the ropes in his hand, which controlled the creature. It started to storm, and Ryu's vision became blurred. Ryu looked at his own hands and realized they weren't his. They were tattooed, like the ones the Air nomad in his other dreams had. The storm got more and more vicious, and Ryu couldn't control the hands of the person he embodied. The unrelenting storm grew worse, and he wondered if the hands knew that if they didn't turn around, they might not make it out.

After a while of worrying, Ryu realized that the creature was descending slowly.

" _ **Hey! You're falling! Snap out of it!**_ " Ryu tried to yell, but the person didn't hear him.

The hands tried to jerk the creature up, but the creature continued with his collision course with the water. Ryu tried to do something, but he couldn't move. The person Ryu was embodied into screamed, and it sounded like a younger boy. They plummeted into the ocean, and the boy seemed lifeless, and Ryu felt the same way, trying to hold his breath as well.

After a minute, the boy's eyes opened with a white glow, and so did his tattoos. He sat in a meditating position,put his fists together, and ice instantly formed around him and the furry creature. He had created a glacier to protect himself.

Everything went dark…

Ryu woke up in a cold sweat, breathing erratically.


	7. Chapter 7

**This is chapter 7 (obviously) of the Chronicles of Ryu. I'd appreciate it if you'd reviewed, favorited, and/or followed, as it is feedback for me! It shows me that you like the story and like the direction of it (especially reviews!).**

* * *

Ryu woke up in a cold sweat, breathing erratically.

When Ryu got downstairs, he tried to be as unrecognizable as possible. He wore a shirt with a scarf tied around to his nose, his two stuffed duffel bags on either shoulder and a hat. He wondered what to do with his key, as he planned to return. Ryu walked outside the back and took ten paces to the left, three forward, and four to the right. He stomped his foot on the ground, and a piece of earth came up. He threw the key into the hole and place the earth back into the ground in a way where no one would know that it was lifted.

As he walked through the streets of Omashu, he saw the shops just opening for the day. Taking his normal route for what may be the final time was bittersweet. Seeing this for the final time to see other things mildly excited him, but leaving Omashu was something he never planned. While walking past the Old Lady's shop, he noticed something peculiar. The shop wasn't opening up like all the other shops. Did the Old Lady not want the morning rush of customers?

' _Maybe she's crazier than I thought…'_ Ryu said to himself. He continued to walk the path slowly to school.

On his way, someone tapped him on his shoulder behind him. He turned around to see a man in enforcement attire, with a badge on his chest.

"You shouldn't be here this early, kid. Where are you going?" The man asked.

Ryu pulled down his hat and his scarf so that the man could hear him, but not get a good look at him. "

I'm going to school." Ryu said shortly.

"At this time of the morning in suspicious clothing? I don't buy it, son." The man said back.

"I...I-I have a project to assemble at school, These are all of the parts." Ryu lied.

The man looked at him for a good few seconds. "You shouldn't be out here at this time of the morning, you look like bad news to me, kid. Don't let me catch you again out here, got it?" The man said.

"I promise to you sir, it won't happen again." He continued walking on the route.

* * *

"Where is he?" The man in a blue and white outfit and blue hat said.

"I don't know, we told him that he is to be here for sunrise." Headmaster Ho said as the sun rose above the mountains, creating the very orange skies that Omashu was known for.

"Maybe he skipped town, I told you he was a delinquent." Principal Yau said.

"Yau, enough of your remarks. He is a fine young boy. The White Lotus should do well to protect him." Principal Haruntin said.

"That's our job, sir, but we can't do that if he isn't here." Another man in a blue and white outfit said.

"Should we have the Authorities search the city?" Headmaster Ho asked.

Just then, the door to the roof of the school opened. Ryu emerged, and saw the view of the mountains, but couldn't help but see what was right in front of him. The biggest airship that he had ever seen lie in front of him. Eight propellers kept it afloat as a walkway led up to it, overshadowing a large part of the surrounding area.

"So the delinquent finally decided to show up," Yau said.

Ryu ignored him as the two men in uniform approached him. "Please, let us take your bags, Avatar Ryu." One man said as Ryu handed the bags to them.

"Wow...What kind of airship is that?" Ryu asked.

"It is a fully loaded future industries airship, sir." The other responded.

He walked over to Headmaster Ho and shook his hand. "Avatar Ryu, you have been chosen by a spirit to not only continue a cycle that has existed for 10,000 years, but to bring peace and balance to the world. I know you will fulfill this duty."

"Thank you, Headmaster," Ryu responded. "It is my honor," Headmaster replied.

"Sir, it's time to board the airship." The uniformed man said to him, and he followed them to the walkway, and walked up the inclined walkway slowly, careful not to slip.

When he was about to board the airship, he realized that the door to the roof flew open. "Wait!" Someone yelled, and Ryu stopped to turn around.

Ryu turned around to see Yin emerge from the door with a duffel bag of his own.

"Ah, Yin, my boy! What are you doing here?" Yau asked him as he approached him.

He gave him a hug and said, "This boy would've made a fine Avatar, not that hoodlum!"

"Hey," Yin interrupted, "That 'hoodlum' just so happens to be my best friend!" He said, and walked up to the airship and stepped up the walkway, and looked at Ryu for a few seconds.

He then surprised Ryu by suddenly hugging him.

"I thought you would hate me," Ryu said.

"I can't hate you, I saw what you meant. And I'm so, so sorry." Yin said back.

"The only thing that I can ask is for you to forgive me." He said.

Ryu pulled away and nodded. "What's the bag for?" Ryu asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I told you, you need a waterbending teacher." He said.

"Sir, we must leave now." The man in the uniform said.

Ryu walked up to the man and talked in a low voice. " _Can I bring another?_ " He whispered.

Instead of asking, the man took Yin's bag, and they both boarded the airship.

They took in the beauty of the airship, as the interior looked fit for a king. They both immediately went to the windows and waved at those on the roof, who started to fade away as they took off. Soon, the entire city was in an eye's view, and they saw the isolated city of Omashu.

"I never realized we were so...cut off," Yin said as he saw the only way to leave or enter Omashu.

A bridge made of earth that led to a metal door guarded by soldiers; the same way Ryu thought it looked eight years ago. The entire city seemed small to Ryu until now, when he was able to see it all. A vast city on top of the mountain, but maintained a boring, beige color. The very complex where he lived seemed so insignificant now as the airship flew away, leaving Omashu nothing but a shadow in the fog.

They went to go sit on one of the white couches and hold a real conversation for the first time in a long time. Ryu told him all about what happened with the Principals, and Yin laughed. Yin told him about the rumors that started forming about Ryu after he left. About how some guessed right about him being the Avatar.

"So...Did you know that you were the Avatar before that?" Yin asked.

"No, I only thought I could earthbend. That was the first time I firebended." Ryu Replied.

He told Yin about his strange dreams and meditations. Yin looked confused.

"So the old Fire Nation man told you that he was you?" Yin asked.

"Uh-huh," Ryu responded.

"So, what do you think that means?" Yin asked.

"Now that I think about it, I know what he meant," Ryu responded,

"They're my past lives." "How do you know this?" Yin asked.

"I-I just sort of...know...The same thing happened in the meeting room with the Principles and I was able to name two of my past lives," Ryu said. "I...Also splashed Yau…"

Yin started to laugh until he started to realize that Ryu was serious.

"You what?" He asked.

"I...sort of...splashed Yau with waterbending. He was furious."

Yin started laughing uncontrollably and fell on the floor.


	8. Chapter 8

"Wait, so you can waterbend?" Yin asked.

"Yin, _I'm the Avatar_. Yes, I can waterbend." Ryu responded.

"No, what I mean is that your native element is earth." Yin said, "Wouldn't it be harder to bend water?"

"Yeah, it was hard enough for me to splash him," Ryu responded.

Just then, some of the men in the white and blue uniforms approached them.

"Sir, please follow us." one of them said.

Ryu and Yin got up and started following.

One of them turned back around and said, "Sorry, we only need the Avatar right now." Yin walked back slowly to the couch and sat.

"I'll be back, Yin," Ryu said.

He followed the men to the front of the airship and saw out the windows. He saw the airship floating among the clouds in the bright blue sky. In the patches without clouds, he could see the green blanket over the earth. He looked straight ahead and could see the occasional mountain peak over the clouds.

"Sir, let's keep moving." One man said, and Ryu continued to follow them.

When they got to a corridor with a few doors, the men led him to one of the doors and one opened it and let them in. In the room were solid metal and a polished wooden desk with two metal chairs on one side and another one on the other side. The two men took the seats on one side, and Ryu took the other.

"Sir, we're just going to ask you a few questions." One of them said.

"Ok," Ryu said hesitantly.

"So, what is the extent of your earthbending?" The other asked.

"Um...I don't know...I can't metalbend a lot." Ryu responded.

"Do you feel that you've mastered earthbending?" He asked.

"No," Ryu responded firmly.

"Ok," The other soldier said as he got up and pulled out a sheet of metal.

"Try to ball this up," He said as he laid the sheet on the desk.

Ryu put up both hands and tried to focus on the sheet while pushing his hands together. Using all his might, he was barely able to bend the edges. The man raised his hands and in one movement, he crushed the sheet of metal and put it in the trash bin.

"What about fire? When have you firebended?" The other man asked.

"Only yesterday, I've never firebended before that." He said. the man hesitated for a second before asking the next question.

"What about the other two elements?" He asked. "Have you ever waterbended or airbended?"

"I was barely able to waterbend yesterday, and I've never airbended," Ryu responded.

"Ok, that's it." The man said as he stood up.

"Wait, I have a few questions," Ryu said. The man sat back down.

"Yes, sir?" He replied.

"What is my plan? What is going to happen?" He asked.

"Well, we are on our way to Ba Sing Se so that you can meet with the Leader of the White Lotus. We will stay there for about a week until we are given the go ahead to bring you to Republic City where you will reveal to the world that you have been found. Then, you will be transported to a safe place to master earth and metalbending. That's all we know, but you must learn Fire, Water, and then Air after that." He responded.

"Ok, when do I go back to Omashu?" Ryu asked.

They looked at each other for a few seconds and turned back. "Um...Sir...You may never go back…" The other man said.

"Wait, _**What**_?!" Ryu said back.

"Um...What we mean is that...Uh…You'll be seeing the world. You may not want to go back." The man said nervously. "Ba Sing Se has had a nice house reserved for you for fifteen years, and Republic City would love for you to reside there." The other man said.

"Fine," Ryu responded, but he knew that they were lying.

* * *

Ryu came back to the luxury area after getting lost a few times, walking slowly. He didn't want to tell Yin that they may not see Omashu again. He got to the couch and saw Yin laying on it, reading a magazine. Ryu tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh, hey. What'd they say?" He asked.

"They just wanted to make sure that I'm the Avatar," Ryu replied.

"Oh, ok. Check out this magazine of these cities!" Yin said in excitement and handed him the magazine.

Ryu thumbed through the magazine and saw a city that caught his eye. The huge city in the photograph, taken from the waters in front of it at night. There were green vines that overran the city, but in a neat way. The night sky dazzled with stars and an aurora flow around that stemmed from the gold beam shooting into the sky from the heart of the city.

"Woah, that's a cool city…" Yin said. Ryu looked in the right corner to see the bold letters, ' **WELCOME TO REPUBLIC CITY** '. The city they were told about in school and shown older pictures, but never this picture, in color of all things as well! They were told that it was the world's most important city, but they never went into detail with it.

"That's where we need to go," Yin said in awe of the city. Ryu wanted to tell Yin about what they said, but he didn't want Yin to get suspicious and ask about the rest of the plan.

Ryu was looking out of the window at the sun setting into the clouds , creating orange rays that spread across the evening sky. Yin was playing with the pail water that he asked for after the big lunch they gave them.

"Hey Ryu," Yin said as Ryu turned around.

"Catch!" He said as he made a guiding motion towards Ryu.

Ryu put his hands up and got splashed with the small amount of water.

"Really?!" Ryu said.

"I'm sorry," Yin said. "That's how my brother used to teach me waterbending, I thought it would work." Yin bended the water off of Ryu and out of his clothes.

The two men came back again and stopped in front of them. "We will be landing in Ba Sing Se soon. You will meet the President, and then be taken to your house in the upper ring."

Ryu got more excited than Yin. The men left and went back to wherever they were.

"Yin! We're going to stay in the Upper Ring!" Ryu said.

"So? Why are you so excited?" Yin asked.

"We learned about this in history, the Upper Ring is for some of the wealthiest people in the Earth Nation," Ryu told him.

Yin's face lit up with excitement and he walked to the window. "Ryu, we're descending. I can see the walls!" He said, and Ryu went over to see. The white walls stood in front of a bustling city that protected the city. As they headed toward the city, they could make out the individual bricks and towers that stood to defend the citizens.

When the airship flew across the wall, Ryu and Yin's smiles quickly faded. The city was crammed and polluted. They were taught that these were the slums. Where the less fortunate resided. The buildings were so close together that there was no empty plot. Some buildings bellow smoke from chimney pipes. You could make out people walking and others standing idle. This was the state of the lower ring, of the poorest in Ba Sing Se.

When the airship flew over the second wall, there was a difference. The wall had a big hole that was blocked by a gate. They flew over it, and immediately noticed a difference. The middle ring buildings were all topped with green roofs and were a lot nicer and neater. There were people who walked around, and the occasional carriage. Some people looked up to see the airship while some people didn't care or realize.

"If this is how the Middle Ring looks, then we'll be living like kings in the Upper Ring," Yin said in amazement.

When they came across the third wall, Ryu and Yin were in shock. The buildings were taller, most made of stone and a few made of metal. All of the buildings were adorned with gold, shiny roofs. It was well lit, and the sun setting made it look like a photograph. Looking down, you could see some children trying to wave at the airship. The airship continued at an angle to the middle of the ring.

When the airship started to slow, the duo saw the gargantuan palace in front of them. The airship approached an airship dock, and metalbenders attached metal wires to the ship. The propellers slowed, and they descended into the dock. Ryu could hear the walkway being attached to the ship.

The two men came out again with a third person; a woman with a blue hat and hair which looked like it was tied into a poodle-ponytail.

"It's time to enter Ba Sing Se, sir," she said as they led them to the bottom-front of the ship. Two of them walked to the door and the other stood behind the two.

"Are you ready to meet the President?" The man behind them asked.

"I think I am," Ryu responded.

The other two opened the doors and the reddish-orange light from the sky flooded the airship. Ryu squinted his eyes to see the beauty of the palace. The big building that was shown to them so many times stood right in front of them, showing the Earth Nation flag proudly. They walked down, Ryu Being first, onto the red carpet to see the man that was known throughout the nation, President Wu. When they got close, Wu clapped his hands together and ran to hug Ryu. Ryu patted him on the back softly, as he started to realize agents that had green outfits and hats that shadowed their faces. Wu pulled away.

"Welcome back, Avatar!" He said.

"I'm sorry, back?" Ryu responded.

"Yes, back! Your past life came here on many occasions!" He said.

He whispered in his ear, "I also kind of dated her,"

"What?!" Ryu said with a disturbed look on his face.

"Well…Not as much dated as...I asked and she said no...Multiple times…" Wu said, and Ryu was relieved a little bit that his past life didn't date this crazy man.

"Well, welcome to Ba Sing Se!" Wu said while gesturing around with his other hand around Ryu's shoulder.

"I would give you a special tour, but you have a lot to do tomorrow," He said.

"What do I have to do?" Ryu asked him.

"You're going to meet with the White Lotus tomorrow, so my assistant will show you to your house, and deliver a feast for you and your ah...friend,"

Wu said as he looked behind Ryu to see Yin slouching and rubbing his eyes. A woman wearing a green outfit and glasses then emerged with a carriage pulled by a horse.

Wu turned around to see her, "Right on time!" He said to her, "Yhana, please show the Avatar his living quarters,". "I am on my way to an extravaganza in my honor!" Wu said while throwing his hands up in the air, walking away.

"Avatar Ryu and company, please come with me," Yhana said while walking to the carriage. They all got in and the horse pulled them towards the town that glistened in the sunset.

"And this is your house," Yhana said after showing them around town.

Ryu looked up to see a house slightly larger and looked newer than the others. The perfectly-chiseled stone house had a small moat around it, where the only way to get across it without getting wet was the nice stone bridge that led to the house entrance. They all got out and crossed the bridge, looking at the beautiful water. Yhana opened the doors, and the two were amazed at the inside. A two-story house with green lighting, and two staircases with a gold banister that led to the second floor with the rooms. On the first floor had two different doors and a small, but nice, four chair table.

"The rooms are at the top, your stuff should be arriving soon, and you can do whatever you'd like outside. Please don't do too much inside, this is a historical landmark."

Yhana said, and with that, she walked to the door. Ryu and Yin accompanied her to the door and walked onto the porch. Yhana bowed, and the two bowed back. She crossed the bridge and got back into her carriage.

Just as they were about to go back in, Ryu glance to the left to see another carriage, one that was larger and fancier. As soon as he looked over, someone emerged. A girl who looked about their age with fancy makeup, black hair, pale skin, helped by a man who looked to be a servant. He helped her with the train on the back of her lightly colored outfit. She turned slightly to see Ryu. She faintly smiled and waved. Ryu smiled big and waved back. He went back into the house along with Yin.

"Did you see her too?!" Yin asked,

"Yeah," Ryu said scratching the back of his head. "She waved at me,"

"Uh, no. She was waving at me." Yin said with a grin.

"Whatever, I call the biggest room!" Ryu said.

Yin then darted to the stairs, but he was no match for Ryu. Ryu bended a piece of the floor as a help to jump into the air and hit the second floor's thin floor. He darted to the door that had a gold outlining, making it in just before Yin could get there. He slammed the door in Yin's face and turned around.

He was Greeted with a white carpet, a bed fit for a king, a closet, a mirror, a few paintings, a large window, and what looked like a few gifts on the bed. He walked over to the window and sat on the bench just under it so that he could look out. He saw the front of the house and the street that they were just on. He looked for the girl they had just seen, but she wasn't on the street anymore. He looked up to see her just as she was sitting on her bench to look out of her window at her house. Before she could spot him, Ryu got off of the bench and used the curtains to close it.


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter is one of the longer chapters, so I hope you enjoy it! If you like chapters like this, please comment, follow and favorite.**

"What's wrong?" Yin said as he walked in on Ryu fumbling with the curtains.

" _She's looking through her window!"_ Ryu whispered while pointing at the window.

"Why are you whispering? She's across the street." Yin said.

"Oh...You're right." Ryu said.

"How about we go say hi?" Yin said slyly with a smirk on his face.

"I know that look. What _else_ do you have in mind?" Ryu asked.

They exited the house through the front door and ducked down to avoid the girl's gaze. They successfully crossed the street without catching her gaze and hid using the wall of her house as cover just as a tea vendor started strolling down the street with his cart and a trail of steam following him.

"What do we do now?" Ryu said rather loudly for the situation that they were in.

" _SHHH!"_ Yin put his finger to his mouth. The tea vendor started to pass closer, and the girls head started to turn her head to see what was the noise, as if in slow motion.

Yin acted quickly and bended the trail of steam from the tea cart and forced it upwards to create a cover.

"Phew, that was close because of your loud mouth," Yin said, and Ryu stuck his tongue out at him.

They then heard faint footsteps land behind them.

"Indeed, it was close." said a girl's voice.

* * *

The two butlers had let themselves in with Ryu and Yin's bags.

"Wow, this is a lot nicer than my house." The man said.

"Well, it is for the Avatar." Said the woman.

"Yeah, but a teenager nonetheless." The man said. "Come on, I don't have time for this. Let's just put the bags down and go, I'm tired."

"Aww, is a little baby tired?" The woman said in a condescending voice.

"Where do we put the bags?" The man said, ignoring the woman's comments.

"Just put them over here, and bring the food in." The woman said gesturing over to the sides of the door.

They left the bags on either side of the door and brought the food in.

* * *

"You do know that I can contact the Dai Li for you trespassing, right?" The girl said to Ryu and Yin.

"If it weren't for him yelling," Yin said pointing at Ryu, who punched Yin in the shoulder.

She started to laugh. "You're the new guys from across the street?" She asked.

"Yep!" Yin responded.

"Let me guess, you're an earthbender?" She asked and pointed to Ryu.

"Well, actually-" Yin started to speak, but Ryu cut him off.

"Yeah! I'm an earthbender." Ryu said.

He could see Yin giving him a weird look out of the corner of his eye.

"That's nice, I'm an earthbender too," She said and shook Ryu's hand.

"And you're a...non-bender I guess?" She said.

"Can a non-bender do this?" Yin said as he bended the water from our moat over to him.

He started swishing it around and playing it. The other two looked at him while he did this and Yin started to smile and look at the girl, who started to giggle. Yin then brought the water over his head, but it dropped and the water soaked him. The girl and Ryu started laughing very hard. Yin bended the water out of his clothes and hair.

"That's not funny!" He said, but they didn't stop. By the time they stopped laughing, Yin was agitated.

"What's your name?" Ryu asked.

"Suvara," she said shaking his hand, "I prefer Sara though. What's your name?" she asked back.

"I'm Ryu and that's Yin." He told her.

"Hi Yin," she responded.

"That house has been empty for as long as I can remember, what made you guys move in?" Sara asked.

"Well, we're just staying temporarily, only for a week maybe," Ryu said.

"We're having dinner over at our house, care to join us?" Yin asked.

"Well, my parents are in the lower ring right now for business… I guess it'll be ok." She said.

"Great! Come with us!" Yin said as he and Ryu led them to their house, even though Ryu didn't really feel comfortable about her coming over. As the sun set in beyond the walls, the sky took on a light purple color as they walked to the house.

When they got across the street and onto the bridge, the man, and the woman started to exit the house from quickly setting up dinner. Ryu was surprised that people who were dressed as citizens were in his new house.

He raised his arms above his head. The earth under the grass came up, and two enormous pieces of earth were floating, scaring the two.

"We brought in your bags and set up dinner!" The man yelled as he stepped to the side. "See!"

"Oh, sorry," Ryu said, and he descended the rocks into their holes, making it look as if nothing happened.

The two ran across the bridge, got into their carriage, and left. Ryu felt bad as they walked into their house filled with the aroma of food. The food covered the white tablecloth. There was fish, rice, arctic hen, seaweed noodles, lobster crab, soup, roasted duck, boiled mushrooms, dumplings, cupcakes, egg custard tarts, pies, cherry-berry lemonade and aloe-cucumber water. Ryu and Yin put their bags upstairs and went downstairs to join Sara for dinner.

"So where are you guys from? It's clear you aren't from here." Sara asked in between politely taking small bites.

"We're from Omashu," Yin said with his mouth full of food. He swallowed it all down hard.

"Wow, I've heard that that's a big city, I wish I could live there." she said.

"Why? You live in the most formal part of the world!" Ryu asked.

"Yeah," She responded, "But I've never left the upper ring. I want to see the rest of the world."

She said, and continued taking petite bites. After a bit more of eating, she stood up. "Can one of you show me to the bathroom?" She asked, and Yin got up to do so.

When he got back, he spoke up.

"Why didn't you tell her?" He asked.

"Tell her what?" Ryu asked.

"Don't play dumb, why didn't you tell her you're the Avatar?" Yin asked again.

"Look, she doesn't need to know. I don't want too many people to know. I'm still trying to comprehend this all. Just yesterday, I was in my apartment in Omashu. Now we're in Ba Sing Se, and I'm one of the most important people in the world. I'm trying to wrap my head around this." Ryu responded, taking another bite of roasted duck.

"Well, I've thought of a great name for us," Yin said.

"A name?" Ryu asked.

"Yeah! We need a name to be known as. I was thinking of 'The Dynamic Duo'" He said.

' _That's a terrible name!'_ Ryu thought.

"I don't want to shoot it down, but let's keep thinking," Ryu responded.

"Well, what do you have in mind then, huh?" Yin said.

Just then, the idea came in. It sounded so simple, yet so great. "What about 'Team Avatar'? It's great, and we don't have to change it if someone else joins." Ryu said, folding his arms.

"Why do you get the good ideas?" Yin said under his breath. Sara came out of the bathroom and joined them for dessert, and they ate the cupcakes, custard tarts, and the pies.

After eating dinner, they talked a little bit until it got late. Sara decided to go home to sleep.

"Bye!" She said as she left their house and went to her own.

Ryu closed the door and decided to look around the house. He saw Yin's room, which had a window above his head, red walls, and his bags that he brought upstairs. He saw the main bathroom, which stunned him. They had the necessities for a bathroom, but also a big bathtub which could easily accommodate more than two people. He went downstairs to find another bedroom and a large backyard with a zen garden. Not only could they practice their bending, but they could also meditate. Ryu went back in the house, upstairs, and into his room. He saw the presents, which seemed like there were more. He hopped on the bed and started unwrapping them.

Unwrapping the medium-sized present revealed a box with matted black painting. In the middle of it was the Fire Nation symbol in a glossy black painting. Inside was a gold hair accessory that was known to be worn by the Prince, but this one was different from the pictures that they showed them at school. This one had a silver pin instead of a gold one, and it was inscribed with extremely neat symbols that read 'Avatar Roku'. The relic had a certain feeling to it. It felt like it was his like he had it before. It would've been impossible for him to wear it, as his hair was too short and too curly. Yin couldn't wear it either, as his hair was straight, but it was too short. Ryu decided it was a gift that should be best left in the box. He put it back in and started on the next present. A smaller present also wrapped with gold wrapping was next. He unwrapped the present to reveal a small, emerald-green box with symbols embedded into the box. The symbols read 'Divided into four, led by one', of course referring to the world. He opened the box that had hinges, and it revealed a gold ring held by a green velvet. On the ring was a gem of sorts. He picked up the ring, and it changed colors from clear to green. As he looked at it from different angles, the color changed from the deep green to a ruby read to an ocean blue, back to clear. The color depended on what angle you looked at it. It fit a little too snug, but he was able to take it off with only a little bit of difficulty. He put it back on and kept it on while unwrapping the other gifts.

The other presents turned out to be a few trinkets from the water tribe and the United Republic of Nations, and Ryu was about to unwrap the last one when he heard a knock on his door. He opened it, and Yin came in, ready for bed.

"Get ready to see a lot more of me, bro!" He said as he approached in a chair across the room in his shorts.

"Literally or figuratively? Go put on a shirt at least!" Ryu said.

"Whatcha doin'?" He asked as he sat.

"I was unwrapping presents, I'm on my last one." He said and started to rip the red wrapping.

It revealed a plain white box with no writing or insignias on it, unlike the others. He lifted up the cover, and inside was a necklace. Connected to the necklace was a circular pendant made of platinum. Engraved into the platinum was a lot of writing, but in a neat way. The symbols read, 'The divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world'. Yin walked over to inspect it. Ryu took the gold chain and put it on. He felt a sense of pride and sat up straight. Ryu started to clean up when Yin sat on the bed.

"So what are we doing tomorrow?" He asked.

"I was told that I am going to see the White Lotus, I'm not sure if you can come," Ryu responded.

"What am I supposed to do then? I'll be bored!" He said.

"I don't know, walk around town." He said, and Yin started to smile.

"You know what? I don't trust you. You're coming with me." Ryu told him.

"Since when were you, my babysitter?!"

"Since you decided to come with me. This is a big city and either of us can get lost easily. If we wander into another ring, we can't get back." Ryu said.

"Ugh...Fine. But afterward, we're going out to the town." Yin told him.

"Deal," Ryu said back. Yin closed the door and went to his own room. Trying not to think about all of the Avatar stuff, he put his bags in the bathroom and got ready for bed.

He tossed and turned, but eventually fell asleep.

The dream occurred again, but this time was much different. Ryu was already sitting with the other three in the same field with the greenest grass he had ever seen. This time, it seemed as though the dream was more detailed. There were animals in the distance, and flying around were smaller animals. Aang and Roku were talking, while Korra was pouring Ryu a cup of tea.

"Ryu, It's a pleasure to see you again." She said. "Please, have some tea."

Ryu took a seat as the other two's conversation ended.

"Um...You guys are my past lives, can you help me?" Ryu asked.

"We are here to help you," Aang said with a smile.

"Well, these dreams, they-" Roku cut him off.

"You're not dreaming, you're in the Spirit world."

Ryu looked around and saw that there were trees that couldn't possibly exist in the normal world. The animals that were around them were animals of another world. They briefly touched on this in school, but never too much. It's something that Miss Konyetzko talked about frequently, however. Amazed, he wanted to go and look around, but he also wanted to talk to the three.

"What am I supposed to do? I'm only fifteen…" Ryu said with fear.

"Age doesn't matter. When I was 12, I ended a hundred year war and brought balance to the world." Aang answered.

"Nobody likes a gloater, Aang," Korra said.

He looked at Korra and stuck his tongue at her.

"But to answer your question, you must master all four elements. Earth, fire, air, and water. Then, you will be a very formidable foe, able to restore balance." Roku said.

"How long will that take?" Ryu asked.

"Well, it took me eighteen years," Korra responded.

"I only had a year to learn three elements, but they weren't mastered," Aang responded.

"You must act quick, Ryu. Tension has brewed between the nations in the absence of the avatar." Korra said.

"I'm very scared, I don't know when I'll talk to you guys again," Ryu said.

"Do not be scared. We will be here when you need us. We are you." Korra said.

* * *

"Ryu?" Sara said as she stood over a sleeping Ryu. "Ryu!" She said again shaking him gently.

He opened his eyes slightly and pulled the sheets over his chest.

"What are you doing in my room?! Who let you in?!" He asked.

"I came to wake you up, there's a carriage in front of your house, and Yin let me in." She responded.

"What did that pendant say?" She asked.

He then realized that he fell asleep holding the necklace.

"Oh, um… top young Omashu earthbender. That's why we're here."

Ryu lied. He looked out the window to see the sun rising and the carriage that Sara was talking about.

"Crap!" He said as he darted to the door across the room to the bathroom door before Sara could see him in bedclothes.

He started frantically getting ready, starting the shower up. He felt the water and it was cold.

"Where's Yin?!" Ryu asked.

"He's already ready, he's outside practicing his waterbending!" She yelled back.

"Sara! Which way do I turn the faucet for hot water?" He yelled.

"Your right!" she yelled back.

He turned it to the right, and the water started to get hot. Sara folded back the sheets to find the pendant that she knew Ryu was lying about. She picked it up, and read the symbols, 'The divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world', the phrase her father used on a few occasions. She remembered what he told her about the phrase. How it describes what the Avatar is. She stood frozen in amazement.

She was in the presence of the Avatar, the person her father told her so much about. The person who was supposed to master all four elements and bring balance to the world.

"So you were the top earthbender in Omashu?" She said through the door.

"Um...Yeah!" He said.

It wasn't totally a lie, he was the top earthbender in his class, but he lied nonetheless. She put it back and threw the bed sheets into its original position. She left to go downstairs with Yin and eat breakfast with him.

When Ryu was ready, he folded his sheets back and put the necklace on, and tucked it into his clothing. He went downstairs and joined them for breakfast. After breakfast, they got into the carriage being guided by the man who had run out of patience waiting on them.

They got out of their carriage and were greeted by Yhana again.

"Hello, avatar Ryu. Yin of Omashu. Please follow me." She said, and they followed her up the stairs of the palace, and through the doors.

The inside of the palace as a jade green with the tallest ceiling either of them had ever seen. Yhana led them through the palace, up a flight of stairs, and to a green and gold double door with the Earth Kingdom insignia on it. She knocked in a unique pattern, and a slit opened for someone's eyes.

"Who's there?" The voice asked softly.

"The divine medium who hath descended upon our mortal world," Yhana said, and the eyes widened as they slowly opened the door to reveal a man with gray stubble and the same blue and white uniform as the soldiers from yesterday, but with a navy blue hood as well.

A few others in the back stood up and pulled down their hoods to see Ryu. Ryu and Yin walked in, and they got a good glimpse of the room. A large room with a large table. In the middle of the table was a very large map of the world in the respective nation's colors. In every available spot was a chair, and all of the other chairs were taken except the two at the opposite ends.

They all bowed down, and Ryu bowed back.

"Please Avatar, have a seat." Said the man that let him in.

He gestured to the one on the far side of the room, and the two went to the seat.

"Where am I supposed to sit?" Yin asked.

Ryu stomped on the ground and in the corner of the room, a piece of the earth raised just a bit to make a makeshift chair for him. Ryu sat down, and as he did, the door opened wide open to reveal someone wearing a light blue hood.

"Alright, let me get a good look at them." The old lady's voice said.

It was a voice that he had heard before, but couldn't put his finger on who it was. The person walked over to Ryu and pulled her hood back. Ryu instantly knew who it was. She walked with her head a little lower all the way to him, looked at him, and smiled.

"Well, well. Isn't it the earthbender from Omashu?" the old lady said. "You're the crazy lady from the tea shop!" Ryu said loudly. "That's right." She responded.

"As soon as I got the message that we found the Avatar, I had to find myself a way here. You caused me a lot of trouble, Ryu." The old lady said as she walked to her seat on the opposite side of the table.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," Ryu said, being a bit embarrassed.

"Don't be," She said, sitting down. "It's our job. I've lived to see three different Avatars, and so far you've caused me the least trouble."

"Master Meng, what is our next step?" the person closest to her asked.

"Well, it's pretty obvious. He is to come with me to Zaofu to complete his earthbending training." The woman closest to him said, but he realized she wasn't wearing a hood.

She had some gray and some dark gray hair, was wearing all green, which wasn't uncommon in Ba Sing Se, but she was also wearing a considerable amount of metal.

She leaned in a little closer to him and whispered, " _Avatar Korra learned metalbending under my guidance, I'm sure you'll be able to as well. Suyin Beifong"_ She smiled and extended her hand, and Ryu shook it.

"Although you may be eager to teach him, Suyin, he needs to go to Republic City first, so that they can announce to the world that he's here." A man on the middle-right side of the table said.

"I think that he should come to the Fire Nation to master his firebending immediately! Tensions in the world has been escalating, he must continue with the next part of his training!" Someone directly across the table from the other man said. The entire table fell into anarchy. Everyone started to argue, and multiple conversations were erupting throughout the room, some of their faces turning red from shouting.

"Umm...excuse me?" Ryu said, but it was completely shadowed by the others in the room.

He looked behind him at Yin, and Yin pointed to his own throat, trying to signal to him something. Ryu shrugged his shoulders, and Yin came over to him.

" _Use those voices!_ " he whispered, and went to go sit back down.

Ryu closed his eyes and tried to imagine Roku, the one who he thought sounded most intimidating. But instead of being able to only think of one, he could only think of all three of them from last night. Ryu spoke without being able to control himself.

" _ **ENOUGH!**_ " He yelled so loud that people on the other side of the palace were able to hear clearly.

All four voices came out from him, startling everyone in the room. A deep silence arose from the room as everyone looked at Ryu, who was scared himself.

"Did _I_ do that?" He asked.

* * *

As Ryu and Yin sat in the back seat of the carriage, Yhana guided the horse. The two were given 300 Yuan each to spend in two green pouches by the White Lotus. It was decided that in one week, they would go to Republic City, Zaofu after that, and then start firebending. They were to send him the plans

"You were all like ' **ENOUGH**!'" Yin said in a weird voice, mocking the past lives' voices.

Ryu was silent, looking down at his shoes.

"What's wrong?" Yin asked, tapping Ryu on the shoulder.

"I don't like this. I don't want to be the Avatar." Ryu told him.

"Are you kidding me? This is the best thing that's happened to us in Omashu! All the kids know you now!" Yin said.

"That doesn't matter if kids like me. I'm the one who's supposed to lead the entire world, and balance it. You heard them, tensions are rising. I'm a kid, what am I supposed to do?"

"I know what'll take your mind off of it," Yin said.

They pulled up to their house and came to a full stop.

"SHOPPING!" He yelled, throwing his hands in the air.

Ryu cracked a faint grin.

"I've known you for eight years, Ryu. You're the best bender I know. I may have failed you a few times along the way, but we've seen each other grow, even if I didn't pay attention and neglect our friendship. I know that you'll be great at this job." Yin said. "Plus, you got me, and you got those crazy White Flower people."

"White Lotus? You'd think you'd remember their names after they gave us 600 Yuan." Ryu said, smiling.

Sara joined them as they were walking to the door. She was wearing A green dress with flares of yellow.

"Are we gonna go shopping now?" She asked.

"You told her?" Ryu asked.

"She asked," Yin said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Just let me go to the bathroom quickly," Ryu said as he went upstairs.

"What's up with him?" Sara asked Yin.

"Oh, um...He embarrassed himself." Yin lied.

"Oh, was it for the earthbending title?" She asked.

"Um...What?" He asked, confused about what she was talking about.

"Ryu told me that's why you guys were here, he won the title of top earthbender in Omashu."

Yin realized that that must've been what Ryu told her. "Oh, yeah." He said.

Ryu came back from the bathroom and they went into town.

When they got to the town, Yin and Ryu looked in amazement at the shops. Suyin led them into one of the shops that was filled with clothes. After looking and gathering a pile of clothes in her arms, she gave half to Ryu and half to Yin.

"Go try them on!" she said, shooing them to the dressing rooms.

After she recommended what they should buy, which looked more like uppity-casual to Ryu, they spent 27 and 23 Yuan respectively.

"I'm hungry, can we go eat?" Yin said.

"Yeah, there's a restaurant a few shops down." She said, and they walked to the restaurant.

They sat outside as they ordered from the restaurant that had a Republic City theme. Ryu had boiled lobster crab with rice and tea. Yin and Sara had the same order of komodo chicken, rice, and cherry-berry lemonade. Yin went to the bathroom and Sara and Ryu talked.

"So, you said you're an earthbender too?" He asked.

"That's right," She said, and she extended her hand and three small rocks gravitated to her hand. She made them levitate above her hand and spins slowly in a circle. She let them fall into her hand, and she crushed them.

"But I'm not as advanced as you. My mother says it's not a lady-like activity." She said as the food arrived.

"How not! Earthbending's the greatest!" He said,

"I disagree with that statement," Yin said properly while walking back to the table.

"Yeah, your demonstration from yesterday sure showed us that." Sara said as they all started to laugh. They ate their lunch and paid and left.

After visiting a few more shops, Ryu and Yin were tired from the day as the sun set, showing it's bright orange colors again. The two lay stretched out on a couch while Sara was in the dressing room trying on clothes. She stepped out of the dressing room in a red sundress that stopped at her knees with black shoes, and a gold necklace with an emerald gem.

"How do I look?" She asked.

"You look good, can we go now? I'm tired." Ryu said.

"Fine, let me pay for this and then we'll go." She said as she went back into the dressing room. She came back out with her original outfit back on and paid the shopkeeper. They left the shop and went back home.

 **I hope you liked the return of Suyin Beifong and Meng from A:TLA (S:1 EP.14 'The Fortuneteller').**

 **P.S. Suvara's nickname is pronounced _Sah-rah_**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 is finally here! I'm sorry it took so long, but I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Sara stood by her window, looking at Ryu and Yin's house. The sun set behind her house, creating a nice purple in the evening sky as stars started to show. She almost forgot about Ryu's status from the fun day they had. If the way he hid the necklace wasn't enough, the story he made up definitely was.

' _Why didn't they tell me?'_ She thought.

Based on what her father told her, the Avatar is considered a god. The king of all. She wanted to know more, and she knew exactly where she had to go. At that moment, the servant came in.

"Mistress Suvara, I will be leaving for the night." He said as he bowed. "The guards will check on you in the morning."

"Thank you, Brodham." She said, and Brodham left.

She went downstairs and went to the door that her father would tell servants that it was a closet they weren't ever allowed in. She felt along the top of the door seal and found the key. She unlocked the door and was greeted by a dark stairway with a dim light all the way at the bottom. She walked down the stairs, which creaked on every step. She got to the bottom of the stairs and saw the stone wall with the outlining of a door. She picked up her foot, stomped it, and pushed her arms forward. The stone inside of the outlining moved into the wall. Sara moved her arms to the left, making the stone do the same. She walked into the room her father made.

A room with a one story ceiling that had floor-to-ceiling bookshelves which covered the walls. In the middle was a table with two chairs. She knew to look for her father's journals on spirit occurrences, but there were too many books to look through. Luckily, her father was a very organized person and left behind a guide. She walked over to the stone she bended, and on the right side was a carved in opening that contained multiple pieces of paper. She pulled it out and opened the papers. In her father's neatest writing was a record of all the books in alphabet order. She went under the symbol 'S' and was able to find where _Spirit Occurrences_ would be. She went over to the shelf labeled '4' and pulled the book off. She sat down and opened the book, looking for the certain section.

She had looked through the entire book, and her eyelids started to get heavy. When she reached the end of the book, her eyes lit up. The section on the Avatar was all the way in the back. It read:

 _The Avatar_

 _The Avatar is a divine medium who represents the bridge between our world and the spirit world. The Avatar has the ability to bend all four elements, making him or her one of the most powerful benders in the world. Having existed for ten thousand years, the Avatar has brought balance to the world countless times. The Avatar has access to its previous incarnations, and can take on memories from a past life. The cycle of the Avatar is akin to the seasons. Water, earth, fire, and air. Usually talented in their originated element, the Avatar has the ability to demonstrate extreme amounts of power. The Avatar possesses a unique ability to call upon their past lives' knowledge and skills in the manifestation of the Avatar State as a defense mechanism that can be activated when they are in extreme danger or going through severe emotions. Although known for being born in a certain nation, the Avatar is considered a citizen of all nations. At the time this is being written, the current Avatar should've been born into the Earth Nation five years ago. Due to the extremely high numbers of orphans in the Nation, the President has made a plan to put those children in Omashu and a couple of smaller cities so that they can get a decent education, and be monitored. This is the longest period of time this world has had without an Avatar. It is impossible for the White Lotus to investigate the children, as there has been a large spike in births._

The next few lines sent chills down Sara's spine, as her father talked about her.

 _At this time, my daughter, Suvara, has displayed signs that she is an earthbender. My wife wants to have her investigated by the White Lotus, but they have come up with a plan to let the Avatar reveal themselves to them. If my daughter is any reflection on the generation's characteristics, the Avatar will be determined, strong-willed, brave, but unusually calm and have restraint._

Sara had read enough for tonight and was ready to go to bed.

Ryu and Yin were in their backyard practicing area, a flat area with the grass blowing in the wind and the moat directly behind Yin. A wall protected wandering eyes from seeing them.

"Okay Ryu, show me what you got with waterbending," Yin said.

Ryu walked over to the moat and lifted his arms while spreading his fingers. He tried to concentrate on his connection with the water, and it raised slightly. Ryu focused as hard as he could on it, but it barely raised above the surface.

"That's okay," Yin said, walking over to Ryu's side. "With enough practice, you'll be able to do this." Yin raised both of his hands and brought them straight down behind him, making some of the water stream towards him. With a few more gestures, he made a ring around him with six tentacles to protect him. Instead of putting the water back, he assumed a fighting stance.

"How about we battle like we used to," He said, grinning.

Ryu remembered how it was when he met Yin. Having only a couple of friends, he felt lonely as no parental figure existed for him or the other children. The closest they had were the teachers, some good, some bad. Seven-year-old Ryu had been in Omashu for three months. Always under the watchful eye of someone to watch the children, it was a radical change from no one caring about the children in the outskirts of Gaoling. The children were walked to school where they were introduced to five new students who had come from near the United Republic of Nations, one of them being Lee Tin, and another being Yin. Yin defied the teachers, getting himself in trouble more often than he should've. He stood out to Ryu as a troublemaker, someone he avoided.

"It's not like it used to be," Ryu said to him.

Yin used one of the tentacles as a grapple and wrapped it around Ryu's right arm, something Yin used to do when someone tried to walk away but wasn't done talking. Ryu always thought it was rude, but now he had a way to get out of it. He took his left fist and punched the tentacle, creating a ball of fire that released the grip, making the water steam up. Yin got a little annoyed and sent three of the tentacles towards Ryu. Reacting fast, Ryu created a stream of fire similar to a water whip and swung it, cutting off the tentacles.

"How do you know how to do that?" Yin asked, letting the water around him fall to the grass.

Ryu thought about it, and couldn't give him a clear answer. "It just feels natural, I guess." He responded.

They headed back inside to start their day.

They were caught off guard to Sara inside, sitting on a couch.

"You let yourself in?!" Yin said.

"It's common in the Upper Ring since no one steals." She said matter-of-factly.

"Well, don't you go to school?" Yin asked.

"I along with most of the other kids in Ba Sing Se are homeschooled." She responded.

"Well, in Omashu, you don't do that. It's weird." Ryu said.

She smiled evilly. "Fine, I won't do it again," She said.

"What were you two doing outside?" She asked.

"We were practicing our bending," Ryu responded.

"Oh, I see. How about I join?" She said, putting her plan that she made last night into action.

"Um...w-well," Ryu hesitated.

He could firebend on command, but couldn't restrain quite well from it. He lacked control. He stood silently as Yin looked at him.

"Why can't she join us, Ryu?" He said, smirking.

She stood up wearing a green shirt, a belt-like leather water tribe wrap she tied just below the waist, slightly baggy pants, and simple shoes.

"Um...maybe it's just not a good idea." Ryu finally spat out.

"Why? Because I'm a girl?" Sara baited him. She knew he would cave at the argument.

"Uh...T-That's not what I meant,I-...I'm sorry," Ryu said as he felt the pressure, and started to feel hot.

"Good, I'll be outside!" she said, and she walked past the two, to the backyard.

Yin smiled and shrugged.

"What am I supposed to do? I can't control fire!" Ryu asked Yin quietly.

"I don't know. You could tell her and smooth everything out." He said with a smirk on his face.

"It's too late for that, it'll be awkward," Ryu responded.

"Hope for the best, bud," Yin said as he patted him on the shoulder and headed out to the backyard with Sara.

Ryu sat down and claimed that he was too tired as he watched Yin and Sara start a battle.

She took a lighter stance, one fist protected her face and the other was extended a bit further. They started circling each other for a good two minutes. Just when Yin wasn't expecting it, Sara kicked at the ground, sending a path of protruding rocks that made him jump out of the way. In reaction, he threw his left arm back and thrust it forward, making a decent sized stream of water lash from the moat towards her. She dodged the stream, and it fell to the ground. She started to run with the path of which the stream came. Yin froze the water that hit the ground, making it slippery. Sara stumbled, and then fell, but fell into a split. She jumped back up and with her came a medium sized rock that she pushed towards him. It hit him and he fell to the ground. He got up quickly and bended the water from the moat to create a wave that had an opening for him as it passed. It hit Sara and knocked her back a little bit. He created a water jet and jumped in the air, but instead of delivering the blow, Sara knocked him into the water with a piece of earth.

He floated to the top and gritted his teeth. Sara took a ready stance again, prepared for what Yin had to throw at her. He raised his hands out of the water and shoved them forward, making fists. Water came up and turned into dull ice spikes. Before they could hit her, Sara did backflips to dodge the projectiles. When she couldn't evade anymore, she raised the earth in front of her to make a wall. Ryu, now standing, saw the projectiles coming for him as well, knowing that Yin had lost control. He started to dodge the projectiles, making his way towards Sara's wall. When seven of the projectiles came at the same time, He raised the earth to form a small pillar. He jumped on top of it and jumped all the way to Sara.

"You finally decided to step in?!" She yelled as the sound of the projectiles hitting surfaces rang throughout the yard.

Ryu thought of what to do, but as the projectiles flew around him, he felt the connection with the water as it flew past. Trying to focus on the issue at hand, Ryu decided to make an earth line that would knock Yin enough to calm down. He looked at Sara, who was trying to get a good look at the situation, but couldn't. Ryu peered around the corner sharply while raising one hand above his head and another extended straight forward.

Instead of earth, he bended the water in the moat.

The water was forced up, making it look as if a bomb were placed in it. Yin was blown out of the moat and onto the grass. The projectiles immediately stopped. The water blast rose well above the roof of the house and was definitely seen by neighbors. The water sprayed Sara who stared in amazement, and Ryu, who was paralyzed in fear. It was much more powerful than any technique he'd seen from Yin or any other waterbender. Yin stared in amazement as it settled, a lot soaking the grass around the moat. He was dripping wet. Yin turned around and surprised Ryu with his next comment.

"Sorry, I kind of got out of control." He said, which was only half-true.

Yin scratched the back of his neck. "So I guess you win then," Yin said hesitantly.

Sara smiled and dusted her hands off.

"Well, Ryu, I guess that leaves you and me," She said.

"Actually Sara, can you go inside?" Ryu asked her.

She shrugged and went inside. Yin walked over to him and started clapping.

"Congrats, waterbender," He said with a smirk.

"I didn't mean it, I-I was trying to earthbend!" Ryu said. Yin patted him on the shoulder and went back inside, Ryu followed.

They got back inside and Ryu decided to go out on the porch alone. He wished he could talk to his past lives on command. He wanted to ask them how to control his abilities. He wanted to ask him what he was supposed to do instead of listening to the White Lotus and them guessing what he's supposed to do.

When he got outside and closed the door, he realized a gold ribbon around one of the columns. He looked at the other side of the column to find a scroll. He untied the ribbon and let it fall to the ground to free the scroll. He had almost forgotten that the White Lotus was going to send him the finalized plans for the week. He unraveled the scroll to reveal nothing. A blank piece of parchment on both sides. He rolled it up and tucked it into his back pocket.

He walked into Yin and Sara talking and laughing. He walked over to them.

"Yin, can I talk to you for a moment?" Ryu asked.

"Sure, we'll be back Sara," Yin said.

Ryu led him upstairs and into his room, locking the door.

"What? I was telling her about the first match you and Lee Tin had," He said.

"Nevermind that, we got this," Ryu said and pulled out the blank piece of parchment.

"What do we do with this?" Ryu asked. Yin took it and looked like he knew what he was doing.

"At the meeting yesterday they told me that they would write this in invisible ink that can be revealed with fire," Yin said.

"Why didn't they tell me?" Ryu asked him, but Yin just shrugged.

He grabbed both ends of the scroll and held it in the air.

"Create a small flame and hold it under the scroll. Try not to burn it." He told Ryu and Ryu followed his instructions. He held out his left hand and tried to make a small flame that he could control. It worked and he started to move it around to start revealing the ink.

When both sides were fully revealed, Yin sat on Ryu's bed and read the scroll.

 _Ryu and Yin,_

 _Due to the rumor that the Avatar is in Ba Sing Se's Upper Ring, we are moving you tomorrow night. Your instructions are as follows. Please pack everything for tomorrow night. Wear the darkest clothes in your wardrobe. You will leave in the dead of night and follow the map on the back of this scroll. Do not tell anyone you met about your status and make sure no one follows you. Try to be aware of your surroundings and do not try to stand out. Try to blend in as much as possible._

 _The White Lotus_

They flipped over the parchment to reveal a map of part of the upper ring with a circle marking their house and an x showing where they need to go with a dotted line connecting the two.

"This is where we need to go," Ryu pointed to the x.

"What are we supposed to tell Sara?" Yin asked.

"We tell her that we're leaving tomorrow, nothing else," Ryu said.

"You don't wanna tell her you're the Avatar?" Yin asked.

"No, for the last time, I don't want her to know!"

"If I were you, I'd tell her," Yin said with a matter-of-fact look on his face.

"You'd tell everyone you could talk to," Ryu said, and Yin shrugged.

At that moment, the faint sound of horse hooves clatter seemed to rise. Ryu turned around and walked to the window to see what the noise was. He folded back the curtain to find a golden carriage led by two ostrich-horses that stopped right outside Sara's house. Two people emerged from the carriage that was too far away for Ryu to get a good look of.

"Someone's outside Sara's house, we need to go tell her," Ryu said as they darted out of his room.

When they got to Sara, she whipped her head around.

"Is everything okay?" she said.

"There's this golden carriage outside of your house, two people came out of it," Ryu said.

Without any explanation, Sara darted out of the room and towards the front door. She flung it open, and the boys chased after her. She ran across the bridge and into the street with them chasing behind her. She ran to her house and onto her front porch. One of them opened his arms and she hugged him.

"Hi sweetie," the man said. She looked up.

"Hey, dad." She said back. The other person, a woman, brushed the hair out of her. Sara let go of the man and hugged the woman.

"Hey mom," She said,

"Hi honey," The woman said back.

"Can I help you, young men?" Sara's father said.

"Dad, these are my friends Ryu and Yin. They moved in temporarily across the street while you were gone." Sara explained.

"Nice to meet you, sir," Ryu said as he bowed.

"Where are you two from?" Sara's mom asked.

"We're from Omashu," Yin said.

"Very nice!" She said as she looked up to see the sun waning.

"Oh my, the day has gone by. Dinner should be ready soon." The woman said.

"Would you like to join us for dinner?" The man said.

"Sure, we'd be happy to," Yin responded.

"This is a very nice dinner Mr. …-" Ryu wasn't told what to call Sara's father.

"Bei Tsar. Distantly related to the Bei Fong's." He said braggingly.

Ryu continued to eat his roasted duck.

"So father, how was the lower ring?" Sara asked.

"Smelly, and we didn't find them." He said sounding defeated.

"Who's 'them'?" Yin asked in between him eating his soup.

"The Avatar." He said, and Ryu perked up.

"I and my husband search for the Avatar in Ba Sing Se, very adventurous activity." Mrs. Bei Tsar said.

"And you think he's here?" Ryu asked.

"I know he's here. And I know that I will find him." Mr. Bei Tsar said.

"There's even a new rumor that sprouted yesterday that he's here in the Upper Ring. I plan on starting my search tomorrow." He said before taking another sip of his tea.

"So...What are you going to do when you catch him?" Yin asked.

"Well, I guess you two seem like two fine gentlemen to know." He said, before lowering his voice as if the entire city were listening in on the conversation.

" _I plan on keeping him in isolation for a few days so that I can collect the reward for him._ " He said in a tone just above a whisper.

"A reward?" Ryu asked.

"Of course! A reward for him alive by the White Lotus." He said, which made Ryu a little sick.

"I might even keep him for a while so that I can get more money." He said with a smile.

Ryu didn't want to show any signs of strange behavior, but he felt like he was going to vomit. A man was telling him how he was going to kidnap him, a scary dilemma.

After dinner, their servants came and picked up the plates.

"Mom, Dad, may I show you what I've learned in earthbending from Master Buo?" Sara asked her parents. While Mr. Bei Tsar said yes, Mrs. Bei Tsar had a look of indifference.

The Bei Tsar's backyard was nothing like theirs. It was vast with space to do anything.

As part of it was taken up by a garden meditating area, a big part of it had battle scars, from obvious practice.

A part was closed in where they waited for Sara. a dummy made of earth in the middle of the area, where Sara walked out to. She took a fighting stance, and something amazed Ryu. Earth started to protrude out of the ground, making her dodge it. No one earthbending it up.

"Do you like the system I made?" Mr. Bei Tsar asked. "I made it myself so that Suvara can practice without getting hurt by other people."

She then raised earth from the ground in a slower, dance-like way. A completely different style than she showed them earlier. She kicked the top of the rock she raised and it hit off the arm of the dummy.

"It's still not lady-like enough for me." Mrs. Bei Tsar said, and her husband sighed.

"Well, Earthbending isn't meant to be a lady-like activity," Ryu blurted out.

She turned around and stared at him. "Is that so?" She said.

"Well, yeah. I've studied the element for thirteen years and I can't even imagine a practical way that could make it lady-like." Ryu said, not making it any better.

"I like Your input, Ryu." She said as she turned around.

Ryu knew that she may change her mind if she was told about the art, and about it as a whole.

"I don't want her learning this barbaric element anymore." She said, and Ryu was proved very wrong.

"Well, maybe if you show her what you can do, Ryu, she'll change her mind!" Yin said aloud.

"That sounds like a good idea!" said Mr. Bei Tsar.

Ryu scratched the back of his head and smiled.

"I don't know about that…" He said.

"I think that'll help her out, Ryu," Yin said, as Ryu stomped on Yin's toe, making him jump around.

Sara came back into the enclosed area.

"What's a good idea?" She asked.

"We were just talking about how Ryu should demonstrate his prowess at earthbending." Mr. Bei Tsar said as he turned and gestured to the area.

"All yours." He said.

Ryu hesitantly walked out to the area and walked over to where Sara stood when she started. He got into a ready stance and waited. A piece of earth startled him by rising up out of the dirt abruptly. He moved in the opposite direction when another piece of earth raised in his path again. He dodged it again, going in the opposite direction. Another piece of earth came up directly in front of him, he couldn't dodge it. He punched the earth and it shattered and crumbled. He continued in the path, as something caught him off guard.

A catapult threw a few sizable rocks at him. All but one missed him, but he caught it and threw it at the dummy with excessive force. It hit the dummy in the shoulder and chipped off a bit of the rock. Ryu decided to display his favorite move. An advanced level move. He did a cartwheel, and with his right hand he brought up a large rock. He compressed the rock with all his might. He then shot the rock into tiny projectiles, focusing them at the dummy. When they hit the dummy, it shredded the rock of the dummy, making it fall over.

Ryu was out of breath and looked over to the enclosing to see Mr. Bei Tsar and Suvara in shock.

"With enough practice, that's what she'll be able to do." He yelled.

He walked back over to them and Ryu patted him on the back.

"Thank you for that demonstration, Ryu. You made me make a decision." Mrs. Bei Tsar said.

Ryu smiled and felt accomplished, like he helped Suvara out.

"You've shown me how rough this art is, and how she could put herself in danger just by knowing it. I never want her to take another lesson again." She said.

Ryu was in total shock by her irrational decision.

"It's getting late. I think you two should get back to your house. Suvara, get ready for bed." She said to her.

"Yes, ma'am," Sara said, and she went inside without saying goodbye.

Ryu and Yin left and went back to their house.

* * *

 **As I said, I'm sorry Chapter 10 took so long to make. I had to think about where the story was headed and how I wanted this chapter to go. I hope you enjoyed it! Favorite, review, and PM me if you'd like. I need feedback to see what kind of chapters you guys like.**


	11. Chapter 11

**This is Chapter 11 of The Chronicles of Ryu. I hope you all enjoy! Follow, favorite, review, and PM me for any concerns or questions.**

* * *

"How could I? I ruined Sara's life! I've only been here three days and I did irreversible damage!" Ryu said while pacing back and forth in front of Yin while Yin sat on the steps that led upstairs.

"It's not your fault. I shouldn't have pressured you into doing it. It's mine." Yin said.

"No, I guess neither of us can blame ourselves for irrational thinking on her Mom's fault," Ryu said, calming down. "But I still can't help feeling guilty."

"Well, tomorrow is our last day here. We're probably never going to see her again, so it doesn't matter. You'll have plenty of opportunities to mess up other people's lives." Yin said. Ryu looked at him funny.

"That came out wrong, I'm tired, let's go to bed."

[-]

When Ryu woke up, he got ready as usual. He got downstairs to Yin eating breakfast. As he was about to take a seat when he heard a knock at the door.

He opened the door to see Sara with a minimal amount of makeup and a blue dress.

"Sara! I'm so sorry about last ni-" Sara cut him off.

"Don't you dare apologize. My mother is being completely irrational. May I come in?" She said.

"Of course," Ryu Responded, and let her in.

"You stirred up quite an argument last night. Father was amazed by your skill while my mother was unphased and angry that I was learning earthbending." She told them. "She wants me to take up a more 'proper' skill like knitting or dancing."

"I feel guilty," Ryu said with his head lowered.

"Don't, it was inevitable. It could've been a lot worse." She said, rubbing him on the back. "You truly are gifted at earthbending." She said as Yin went back upstairs.

"You're just trying to cheer me up," Ryu said with his chin on the table.

"No, it's genuine. Maybe one day, you can teach me." She said.

"Probably not," Ryu said. "We leave at midnight tonight."

"That's right, I forgot." She said in a defeated voice. "Do you think I'll ever see you guys again?" She asked. Ryu looked at her in her light blue eyes to see pure sadness. His eyes darted back down.

"I doubt it. This is the first time I've been out of Omashu in eight years." He said.

"Well, I should go now. My mom doesn't want me to hang around you guys. She'll throw a fit if she finds out I went against her wishes." She said after a long time.

"Yin! Sara's leaving!" Ryu yelled upstairs.

Yin came rushing downstairs as Sara opened the door.

She hugged Yin and Ryu. "Take care of each other." She said as a tear streamed down her cheek.

She pulled away and wiped the tear away. "Goodbye." She said, and she walked away from their house and across the moat.

Ryu closed the door slowly as he felt tears swelling in his eyes. He instantly regretted not telling her.

[-]

"Suvara, where were you?" Mrs. Bei Tsar asked.

"Outside, mother!" she said in an impatient voice as she ran upstairs before she could see the tears streaming from her face.

She ran into her room and laid down on her bed. She started to cry into her pillow. The past few days of her secluded life were the best she's ever experienced. Ryu and Yin were the only people her age she actually connected with. Others couldn't deal with her parents or would be too snobby for her liking. Ryu and Yin just seemed _normal_. She knew why they were leaving, he had to start learning the next element soon. They were going to travel the world while she'd be here forever.

At that moment she had an idea.

[-]

"Yin, we need to go, now!" Ryu yelled upstairs.

"I'm ready, stop yelling or you'll wake up the neighbors!" He said as he emerged from his room with his two bags.

He came downstairs with both bags strapped around either shoulder. He was wearing the darkest clothing he owned, as was Ryu. Ryu turned off the lights in the house and opened the door slowly.

Sara had just finished packing and saw Ryu and Yin leaving their house right on schedule. She had a couple of candles lit and her darkest clothing on. The door was locked shut and her bed freshly made. She took the letter that she wrote and put it on her bed. It read:

 _Dear Mom and Dad,_

 _For as long as I could remember, I have had a boring life. Every day was the same thing, no surprises, no excitements. For years I couldn't make friends here without either them becoming mean towards me or you stepping in. I only had earthbending to keep me happy. It was always there for me and didn't let me down. And now, you want to take that away from me. I cannot bear to think of a life so bland and so miserable._

 _A few days ago, a spark came into my life. Ryu and Yin. They were not who you thought they were. Although Yin is a waterbender like he told you, Ryu lied to you. He isn't just an earthbender. He is the Avatar. I couldn't tell you because I knew what you would do to him, and I couldn't let that happen. While you were gone, I had the time of my life with them. I found people who were actual people instead of the fake snooty kids that live here. The walls you have built around me to protect me were all futile and ridiculous and I hated them. I'm sorry for what I am doing. I want to see the world. I want to see the cities that father told me about. I no longer want to live in this bubble._

 _I am running away. I will travel the world with the Avatar and master earthbending with him. Do not bother trying to come get me because I absolutely will not come with you. You raised me to be an excellent young woman, but now I must forge my own path. I love you and hope our paths cross again appropriately. I believe that this is my destiny, and I must fulfill it. I hope you can understand and still love me after this._

 _I love you both very much,_

 _Sara_

Sara re-read her letter while taking her two duffel bags and a third smaller bag with other valuables. She blew out the candles and opened her window and saw the two walk down the street slowly, so as soon as they disappeared, she threw the bags out the window and into the grass. She then climbed down onto the grass and collected herself while picking up her bags and trying to catch up to Ryu and Yin.

" _Where's the map?"_ Ryu whispered.

Yin pulled it out of his back pocket and unrolled it to show the map side.

" _I can't see it!"_ Yin whispered.

Ryu extended his hand and created a flame that was large enough for Yin to see the map.

" _Go left down this street,"_ Yin whispered, and they took a left.

" _Right down here,"_ Yin whispered, and they went down the street.

" _Keep straight,"_ Yin whispered, and they followed the directions.

After a while, Ryu got annoyed as the directions seemed to bring them in circles.

" _Let me see the map!"_ He whispered, and took the map with his free hand.

He realized that everything was backward.

" _You were holding the map upside-down!"_ Ryu whispered a little louder.

" _No, I didn't! You flipped it upside down!"_ Yin said.

" _No! The x was on this side when we first saw the map!"_ Ryu whispered.

" _Well, maybe you had it upside down then!"_ Yin responded.

" _How are we going to get to the palace?"_ Ryu asked.

" _It's to the left,"_ A voice said behind them.

Ryu and Yin turned around with Ryu still firebending to see Sara behind them in dark clothing and three bags.

"Sara!" Ryu said loudly before quickly putting the flame out and the hand behind his back.

"It's okay. I know who you are, Avatar Ryu" she said.

"What?...How?" Ryu asked. "I saw your necklace when I went to wake you up." She responded.

"So...What are you doing?" Yin asked.

"I'm coming with you guys." she responded.

"Oh no you're not. You need to go back to your house before your parents realize you're gone." Ryu said.

"No, I left and I'm not turning back." She said while crossing her arms.

"Sara, you have a family that loves and cares for you. We're orphans, we have no obligations to anyone else." Yin said and Ryu nodded.

"I'm giving that all up to travel the world with you guys. I cannot live here anymore. All I have here are rules to abide by. I can't take it anymore." She said. "And, you're in no position to refuse. I'm the only one who can get to the palace, You two almost got lost for good without me."

Ryu looked at Yin and knew what they had to do. "Let's go, we've already drawn too much attention to ourselves talking too loud," Ryu said.

They went down the street to the left and Sara smiled, taking the lead.

Sara navigated them the palace without the help of the map. They got to the airship dock to see the airship again with its doors open. They hid behind a wall to talk out a plan.

"I was thinking that we go onto the airship without any trouble and you just sneak behind them," Yin said as he pointed out the space the soldiers has left between them and the ship's entrance.

"Sounds like a plan," Ryu said, and they enacted it.

Sara hugged the corner of the wall and moved slowly not to catch their attention. When she disappeared into the darkness, they walked up casually to avoid any suspicion. They walked up to the soldiers and they bowed. Ryu bowed back.

"Please board, sir." One of them said.

Ryu and Yin boarded the ship and waited for Sara. She was able to sneak past the guards with no problem and boarded with them. She walked on the ship and gawked in amazement.

"Is this how you guys came in here?" She asked as she looked around.

"Yeah, from Omashu," Ryu responded.

"So you guys are from Omashu?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't we be?" Yin asked.

"You gleefully omitted that you were the Avatar, what else did you skip, if I can call you Ryu?"

"We're the same as we introduced to you, I'm just the Avatar," Ryu said.

"So how did you find out-" She was cut off by the sounds of footsteps.

" _Hide!"_ Ryu whispered to her. She dove behind a couch

A woman in green and silver came out from one of the halls. She came down and Ryu instantly recognized her.

"Suyin Beifong?" He asked.

"Hello again, Ryu," She said as she gave him a hug.

"I'll be your teacher for earthbending when you get to Zaofu," She said when she pulled away.

"Oh, okay." He said while making sure Sara was still hidden.

"Ryu, when hiding stowaways, you need to be more careful." She said as she walked around the couch to see Sara.

Ryu's heart skipped a beat, worried that she would be sent back home to her overprotective parents.

"Who are you, young lady?" She asked her.

"I'm Suvara Bei Tsar, I-" Suyin cut her off.

"Wait wait wait… Bei Tsar?" she asked.

"Ye-yeah...Bei Tsar." Sara responded.

"Well, although we're related, that still doesn't explain why you're on this ship." She said as the soldiers came aboard the ship.

"Guards, please take this young girl and bring her off of the ship," Suyin said, and they started to advance on Sara.

"Wait!" Ryu yelled, and stood in front of her and took a ready stance.

"Suyin, we have to take her. Her parents have completely secluded her from the outside world. She is a great earthbender and I want her on our team." He said. "If you take her, I will not go."

After a while, the guards started to hesitate. "Stand down," Ryu said.

"Do it, soldiers," Suyin said. They looked at each other, bowed, and left.

"Well cousin, I guess you're on our team now," Suyin said as she went back down the hall where she came.

"Where are we going?" Sara asked.

"We're going to Republic City," Yin said.

Her face lit up with excitement.

"The city itself?" She said with excitement.

"Um...Yes?" Ryu responded.

"That's where your previous incarnation lived," She said, "My father learned a lot about Avatar Korra and taught me."

"That's more than I knew, they didn't teach us about the Avatar in school yet," Ryu said.

"Then how do you know about your past lives?" Yin asked.

"I told you I just know. I guess I always knew." Ryu responded.

The airship's rotors started to come to life and the airship glided into the night sky, and over the walls of the first ring. It continued ascending through the clouds to the point where the only thing visible was the moon and the stars. Yin soon fell asleep on the couch, leaving Ryu and Sara. She got up and walked over to one of the many large windows and just stood there. Ryu got up and went over to her to see the waxing moon among the beautiful stars and different colors that lit up the night sky.

She snorted. "I can't believe just yesterday I was trying to get my parents to let me practice earthbending. Running away is exciting, but also saddening."

"I can't say that I'm all excited for leaving my life behind either," Ryu told her.

"What was your life like anyway?"

"Mediocre," Ryu said. "I was found on the outskirts of Gaoling when I was seven years old and brought to Omashu. I lived a pretty boring life, but I kind of liked it, until four days ago."

"What happened?" She asked.

"I got into a fight and firebended for the first time, and the principal contacted the White Lotus." He said.

She was silent.

"I'm sorry for not telling you." He said.

"It's whatever." She responded.

"I didn't want to say anything because… I guess I wanted to be treated like a normal person. I don't know if it's sunk in yet." He said.

"I'm not even sure that I want this."

"I know you need to do this."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you're very qualified."

"You think so?" He said as he turned to her.

"I know so." She said as she turned to him and looked him in the eye.

They started to lean into each other unknowingly, getting extremely close. Their lips were barely brushed when Yin snorted and rolled over on the couch, making them look over at him. Ryu got embarrassed, so he faked yawned.

"I think it's time to go to bed now, I'm tired." He said as he picked a couch and laid down on it. He rolled over to face the back so that she couldn't see his face. She, also feeling embarrassed, got a comfortable big chair and fell asleep.

Yin woke up and sat on the couch. He yawned and got up to go to the window and see the skies. The sun was rising and creating orange streaks in the sky. He looked down to see the ship soaring just above the clouds. In the distance, he could see mountaintops protruding from the clouds. Sara was the next to wake up, and she saw Yin staring out the same window as she did last night when _it_ almost happened. She went over to Yin and said good morning. She Looked out to see the beautiful sky like Yin. Eventually, she turned around to see Ryu still sleeping with sunlight starting to hit his face.

"I knew that was him with the water." She said to Yin.

"I thought you did. He was freaking out about it afterward about you knowing. Something about telling you made him nervous."

They were silent, just looking at the beautiful sunrise when Ryu woke up. Yin went to go use the bathroom, and Ryu was doing everything in his power not to look at Sara.

The White Lotus brought them breakfast and they ate. All they did was lay around waiting for them to arrive at Republic City. Ryu decided to go explore the ship but didn't find anything interesting. They just sat around, waiting and reading magazines.

Just when Ryu thought that he was going to die of boredom, Suyin walked in with an outfit in her hand.

"We're about to land, so I need you guys to change into your nicest clothing." She said, and Ryu reached for his bag.

"Oh no, Ryu. We have an outfit for you already." She said, handing Ryu the outfit in her hands.

"I have to get the rest of it, so I'll be right back." She went back down the hall she came from, while Ryu tried to put on what she gave him.

Tan pants, black boots, grey gloves, and a dark green loose-fitting tunic that went all the way to to the collar and had a lighter green piece that started at the collarbone and went down to the thigh. With it being a bit baggy, Sara and Yin started to laugh as they were changing.

"Haha. It's not funny." He said, starting to feel a bit embarrassed.

Suyin came back in with a lot of shiny metal in her hand. She put it on the ground and stood behind Ryu.

"Put your arms up for me, Ryu."

She said, and he raised his arms to shoulder length. A piece of metal rose from the small pile that resembled a belt. She bended the metal around his waist and tightened it slightly to accommodate for his skinnier build. He looked down to see the belt had an earth nation logo for the buckle. She then bended another piece of metal, which looked like a back plate that stayed on by the neck piece. She bended it onto him, but instead of feeling heavy like he thought it would be, it was light.

"Arms down," She said, and Ryu put his arms to his side.

She bended the rest of the metal into the air. Shoulder pieces, arm pieces, and leg pieces. She put them all on at once.

"All done!" She said, and Ryu walked over to the glass where he could see a faint reflection of himself.

His outfit strongly resembled a person he learned about in school, Kuvira the Great Uniter.

"I had the outfit specifically designed to protect you." She said.

"There's metal cable, metal strips that you can use for attack, and a retractable blade."

"That's great and all," Ryu said, "But I can't metalbend very well."

"Hmm… I'll be able to help you in Zaofu, but for now, this looks good on you." She said.

Ryu realized that the ship was descending. They were about to dive into the clouds as if it was a swimming pool. Their vision was completely blocked by the clouds. Yin and Sara, fully changed, stood on either side of Ryu to see through the window. It killed him, the excitement. They were about to see the world's biggest city.

The clouds went away, and the sight was breathtaking. The skyscrapers glistened in the sunlight, and so did the water. They could see mountains in the background, which made the city look more compact. In the middle of the city was a beam of light that shot straight up to the sky. They circled around to be able to land, and as they got closer, they could see lots of vines, but managed perfectly. They could make out the massive crowd of people who were there to greet them at the dock. Ryu stepped away from the window, got the Avatar necklace, and put it on, which matched the shiny armor. Suyin led them to the front of the airship as it docked.

"Are you ready?" Suyin asked.

Ryu and Yin looked at each other.

"Yes," Ryu said.

The doors opened, and the midday light flooded into the room, and the crowd cheered. He walked out of the ship and started walking down the stairs. He could see waving arms and people going crazy while being blocked by barricades that created a pathway with a red carpet for them. He could see flashes of light from big bulky cameras. Ryu flinched at these lights, as they hurt his eyes. People reached out their hands, trying to touch him. He reached out to shake a few people's hands. He continued to walk down the red carpet to see figures at the end of it.

He got to them and smiled. He saw a man with a more muscular build, green eyes, short hair with one strand that went down to his bushy eyebrows and decided to greet him first.

"Hi, I'm Ry-" The man grabbed him and hugged him, picking him up. He started to weep.

"I've missed you Korra!" He said, and Ryu was too shocked to respond.

"Put him down, Bo. You're scaring him! That's the _incarnation_ of Korra! She can't hear you!" The man next to him said.

He put him down and wiped a tear from his eye with his finger. "I'm s-sorry, I promised myself I wouldn't act like this. I'm Bolin."

He said as he extended a hand, and Ryu hesitated to shake his hand but did anyway. He moved on to the next person, who was equal height Bolin with same black hair, orange eyes, and a slimmer build.

"I'm sorry for my brother. We've missed Korra for fifteen years." He said as he extended a hand.

"I'm Mako." He said, and Ryu shook his hand.

"I'm Ry-" He was cut off again trying to introduce himself.

"We already know your name, you apparently gave the White Lotus some trouble in Omashu. They've been telling us about it." He said. "This is Asami Sato, CEO of Sato Industries." He said as he pointed to the woman next to him, who had pale skin, raven black hair, light green eyes, and red lips.

He remembered learning about her in school, as Sato Industries created many things for the modern world.

"Hi, Ryu!" She said as he was hugged again by her.

She let go, and he moved on to a taller man with a beard and Air Nomad clothing with a blue arrow on his bald head.

"A-Aang?" Ryu said in a soft voice.

"No silly! I'm his grandson Meelo!" He said as he shook Ryu's hand vigorously.

"And I'm his granddaughter, Jinora." The woman next to him said. She had the same type of clothing on and the same arrow, but also had hair that fell down and curled at her chin.

"We had to fly over here to see you," Meelo said.

"Oh...Me? Ryu said.

"Of course!" Jinora said.

"The car's here!" Asami said, and a large vehicle pulled up. All nine of them piled in snuggly, and the car pulled off.

They all came out of the car and were greeted by another crowd with more cameras flashing and people yelling with recorders in their hands, pointed at them.

"We didn't know they wanted you to make a speech until a couple of hours ago," Bolin told him in a lower voice.

They could see City Hall with six chairs and a podium. They all walked up the stairs, and Jinora, Meelo, Asami, Suyin, Mako, and Bolin took seats. Yin gave his seat to Sara and stood next to Ryu at the podium. Ryu turned around and looked at the other seven. Sara gestured him to speak.

"Hello?" He said too close to the mic, hurting his and everybody else's ears.

He backed away and cleared his throat.

"Hi um…" He said, trying to think of what to say.

"It's nice to be in Republic City, My name is Ryu and I-" He was cut off by someone asking a question.

"Where were you found, Ryu?" The woman asked.

"In Omashu." He said simply.

"How were you found?" Another one asked. "I found out I could firebend at school." He responded.

"How do we know that _you're_ the Avatar?" The same man asked.

Ryu looked to Yin and nodded.

Ryu whipped to his right and brought up his fist. The earth right in front of him raised to his hip and he punched, creating a fire strike. The crowd looked in amazement while those with cameras took pictures.

"Now, although I only really know one element," Ryu started, "I plan on mastering all four elements to bring peace and balance to our chaotic world once again." The cameras took more and more pictures of them.


	12. Chapter 12

**This is chapter 12 of Avatar: Cronicles of Ryu. Please leave a review, like, and follow!**

* * *

After the speech, they went to a restaurant and toured the city a bit. They went to the pro-bending arena. Tonight was a fight between the Ba Sing Se Badgermoles and the Kolau Komodo Dragons. The group, except for Suyin who had to do something with the White Lotus and President Raiko, were in the practice room a couple hours before the match.

"Okay Ryu, show me what you got!" Bolin said.

Ryu slammed his foot, made fists with both his hands, and raised them. The two stacks of earth discs that was on the sides of him raised into the air. He brought the two stacks together, and tried to make it all one big rock. He broke a sweat doing it, but the two stacks formed one rock. He then launched the rock at the net. The net ripped, and the piece of earth hit the wall and shattered into a thousand pieces. Bolin was shocked and speechless.

"Well, that's not really what I had in mind…" He said.

"Have you seen or listened to pro-bending before?" Mako asked.

"...No?" Ryu said slowly.

He remembered how much Yin loved pro-bending. How he'd talk about it so much at lunch some days. How he said that it was his dream to be in a team one day. How he saved allowance by only eating once a day at school to save money and buy a radio to listen to the games. Yin was looking around the stadium, as Asami got him a pass. Mako replaced the net and Bolin got another stack of earth discs.

"What I mean is like this," He said as he punched twice, and two discs flew towards the new net, and fell.

Ryu tried it out, and did the same as Bolin. Sara also tried, but had her hands too far out, and the disc hit the wall instead of the net. Ryu walked over to help.

"Your arms are way too far away from your center," he lightly guided her arms to her chest more, but he started to feel his cheeks redden. He backed up and cleared his throat.

"How about you try now?" Ryu said. She tried, and it worked.

They walked into the stadium and sat in a private viewing room. Ryu sat in between Asami and Meelo. Asami tried to explain the concept of the game to him, but he couldn't understand. "Who could find this interesting?!" He asked. Mako and Bolin looked at him in curiosity. "What?" He asked in a low voice. "Korra did, but don't worry about it, you may understand it soon," Asami told him.

When the match was over, everyone except for Meelo and Jinora, piled into the car to leave. It was a bit more comfortable with the extra space, but still a bit uncomfortable. They piled out in front of a skyscraper, and they followed Bolin. They walked into the building and someone greeted Mako and Bolin. They entered a lift and went up to the top floor.

"I don't know where you stayed in Ba Sing Se," He said as they got to the apartment door. "But here is Bolin Estates!"

He said as he opened the double doors to show the penthouse apartment. It was larger than any apartment they'd seen. Ryu Yin and Sara walked in and looked around.

"Bolin estates?" Mako asked.

"Just trying out new names." Bolin said.

"I live here too!" Mako said.

"Maybe it can be Mako estates next time!" Bolin said.

Their bags were put on the couches they had. Mako showed them down the hallway across from the other two bedrooms for Mako and Bolin.

"There are only two bedrooms left over, so um… Do as you like, goodnight." Mako said as he went into his bedroom.

He knew that he pretty much had to share a room with Yin, but he remembered how filthy he would keep his apartment in Omashu. He couldn't stand to be in there for too long. He didn't even bother to look in his room in Ba Sing Se out of fear. Sharing a room may kill him before he gets to master earthbending. Yin put his arm around Ryu's shoulder.

"Well Ryu, I guess we're sharing a room," He said.

"Yin, I love ya bro, but you are a complete slob when it comes to your living quarters." Ryu said.

"Well I certainly don't wanna stay with a slob!" Sara said.

"So it's decided, I have my own room, and you and Ryu share that one." Yin said.

"Yeah! It sure is!" Sara said.

"Umm…" Ryu said, but Sara grabbed his arm.

"Let's go Ryu." She said as she pulled him into one room and Yin went into the other.

They walked into the room and saw a very large bed that was fit for a king. Across the bed was a Sato TV across the room. The television was mounted on the wall, and a black remote on the bed. Ryu picked up the remote and pressed the red button. The tv lit up and there was a person talking at a desk with paper in front of him.

"A new story tonight," He said in a grand voice, "The Avatar has come to Republic City. The first Avatar in the Second Age of Raava, Avatar Ryu has come all the way from Omashu. From pictures taken earlier today, it's been shown that he can bend earth and fire so far. Only time will tell if he will live up to his past lives' expectations. This is Shiro Shinobi, signing off for the night. Goodnight Republic City." The man said as the next show, a documentary about flying bison, started.

"I'm really tired. Let's go to bed." He said to her. She grabbed his arm before he could go into the bathroom. Ryu blushed and turned around.

"You still haven't answered something for me." She said.

"Wha-" She darted to the bathroom and slammed the door in his face. She took a shower and changed in the bathroom.

"What was that about?" He asked as she came out of the bathroom.

"I just wanted to use the bathroom first!" She said as she laid in the bed. Ryu went to the bathroom and did the same. He laid in the bed with Sara as she was watching the documentary. He took a pillow and put it in the middle of the bed.

"What's that for?" She asked.

"To separate our sides, the pillow is the border." Ryu said.

"...Okay?" She said as if it was a question. Ryu and Sara fell asleep soon after.

[-]

Ryu crossed over to the spirit world and was walking through a forest. He tiptoed around the forest, and hid behind trees. He heard footsteps, the crunching of leaves on the forest floor. The footsteps got closer, and Ryu was paralyzed with fear. He turned around and looked at the ground to see brown boots.

"I'm sorry for sneaking up on you, but I thought we should talk a little bit." The woman's voice said.

"Thanks, Korra." Ryu said as he looked at Korra's face.

[-]

"Aang let me borrow Appa for this little trip," Korra said as the big flying bison.

She jumped up and offered him a hand up. "Yip Yip!" She said as she picked up the rope and whipped it.

Appa leaped into the air and started screaming.

"Calm down, you never rode a flying bison before?" Korra asked.

"NO!" Ryu yelled.

Eventually, he calmed down, and they soared into the clouds. Ryu could make out people standing in the clouds.

"I wanted to tell you about what you can do." She said. "The Avatar has the ability to bend all of the elements, and utilize a state of extreme power."

Appa continued to fly as what seemed like third person memories in front of them.

"This state of extreme power is known as the Avatar State." She said as Avatar Kyoshi appeared. "The Avatar State is a defense mechanism, designed to empower you with the skills and knowledge of all the past avatars."

Kyoshi opened a fan, and her eyes glowed for a second, and stopped abruptly. She bended two very large pieces of earth into the sky and outwards. It cut to Avatar Kuruk quickly going into the Avatar State and bending a tidal wave to surf on.

"The glow, is the combination of all your past lives, focusing their energy through your body." She said.

The memory switched to Avatar Aang in an elemental sphere, bending multiple fire strikes down onto the ground while his opponent tried to outrun them.

"In the Avatar State, you are at your most powerful but you are also at your most vulnerable."She told him

Ryu got confused and looked over to Korra, her ponytail flapping in the wind.

"If you are killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle will be broken," She said as the faded to another location with all the Avatar lined up in a row looking forward with their eyes glowing. Korra looked at Ryu's glowing eyes and Ryu looked at Korra's. "And the Avatar will cease to exist." All of the Avatars started to disappeared, one after another, until Korra and Ryu vanished.

They were back on Appa, and Korra landed him in a plains area with vibrant green grass blowing gently in the wind.

"Why did you tell me about this? I've never been in this state." Ryu asked.

"I sense a great danger," She said, "I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did."

They both jumped off of Appa, and Korra looked up to Ryu, who was just a couple of inches taller than her.

"I can't believe I've seen you grow up all this time." She said laughing. She grabbed him and hugged him, and Ryu hugged her back.

"Tell my friends I said hi." She told Ryu.

"Uh...Ryu?" Mako said, poking him on the nose. Ryu opened his eyes to Mako hovering over him, waking him up. "Get dressed and come up to the roof." He said.

Ryu opened his eyes to Mako hovering over him, waking him up. "Get dressed and come up to the roof." He said.

Ryu did what Mako said and followed him up to the roof where he was waiting. "Now I know you don't want to be awake this early-" Mako started to say. "Actually, I'm fine. I woke up earlier than this for school in Omashu." Ryu told him. "Oh...Ok," Mako said. "Show me what you can do with firebending." Ryu took a step to the side and punched into the air, creating a barely decent fire strike. "That was okay, but try breathing before firebending," Mako said, "Like this." Mako took a visible breath and jabbed the air, creating a much more powerful strike. Ryu tried it, and he created a much more powerful blast that he jumped back a bit.

"Now I know you don't want to be awake this early-" Mako started to say. "Actually, I'm fine. I woke up earlier than this for school in Omashu." Ryu told him. "Oh...Ok," Mako said. "Show me what you can do with firebending." Ryu took a step to the side and punched into the air, creating a barely decent fire strike. "That was okay, but try breathing before firebending," Mako said, "Like this." Mako took a visible breath and jabbed the air, creating a much more powerful strike. Ryu tried it, and he created a much more powerful blast that he jumped back a bit.

"Actually, I'm fine. I woke up earlier than this for school in Omashu." Ryu told him. "Oh...Ok," Mako said. "Show me what you can do with firebending." Ryu took a step to the side and punched into the air, creating a barely decent fire strike. "That was okay, but try breathing before firebending," Mako said, "Like this." Mako took a visible breath and jabbed the air, creating a much more powerful strike. Ryu tried it, and he created a much more powerful blast that he jumped back a bit.

"Oh...Ok," Mako said. "Show me what you can do with firebending." Ryu took a step to the side and punched into the air, creating a barely decent fire strike. "That was okay, but try breathing before firebending," Mako said, "Like this." Mako took a visible breath and jabbed the air, creating a much more powerful strike. Ryu tried it, and he created a much more powerful blast that he jumped back a bit.

Ryu took a step to the side and punched into the air, creating a barely decent fire strike. "That was okay, but try breathing before firebending," Mako said, "Like this." Mako took a visible breath and jabbed the air, creating a much more powerful strike. Ryu tried it, and he created a much more powerful blast that he jumped back a bit.

"That was okay, but try breathing before firebending," Mako said, "Like this." Mako took a visible breath and jabbed the air, creating a much more powerful strike. Ryu tried it, and he created a much more powerful blast that he jumped back a bit.

Mako took a visible breath and jabbed the air, creating a much more powerful strike. Ryu tried it, and he created a much more powerful blast that he jumped back a bit.

Mako was showing Ryu breathing when the roof door opened. Asami and Bolin came through the door just in time to see them practicing fire redirection. "I think that's enough learning for today." Mako said.

"How about we take you guys around the city?" Asami said, and Ryu completely ignored her, thinking she was talking to Mako or Bolin.

"Uh...Ryu?" Bolin said.

"Yeah?" Ryu asked.

"We're asking you," Asami said.

"Oh...I'm not used to making decisions." He said while chuckling. "You guys can decide,"

Ryu continued to practice his firebending with Mako.

"How did Korra reincarnate into someone so opposite to her?" Bolin asked.

Mako and Ryu were continuing their exercise, and they would progressively add more power to the fire. Ryu caught Mako off guard with too much power, so he dodged the attack.

"Do I win?" Ryu said with his hands in the air.

"Maybe he is like her in a lot of ways," Asami said.

They got get breakfast at a restaurant and went to Little Ba Sing Se mall, straight to the upper ring to a fancy clothing store. They tailored Ryu and Yin for suits for a ball tonight. Ryu and Yin were able to decide what kind of suits they wanted. Ryu chose a two-piece suit with a shirt that resembled a modern black and grey Tangzhuang with black pants and a grey jacket with jade green accents. Yin chose a two piece suit with a normal white shirt, a deep blue cravat, and a lighter blue jacket. It was the classiest Ryu felt, as they had never been prompted to wear fancy clothes in Omashu, and they would have to save allowance for a couple of months to buy such fancy clothes. Asami paid for the bill and had the suits delivered back to the residence.

Asami drove them all the way up to the harbor. They got out of the car to see the glistening blue water that divided the expanding city. In the middle were two structures. One, a statue of a man holding a staff with airbender symbols on it. Ryu instantly knew who it was and told Yin. The other was a large temple with people who looked like the size of ants from the distance flying around the island. One bigger figure started to come closer to the city until Bolin made out the figure. Meelo with a flying bison was approaching them slowly. When they got closer, the bison bellowed loudly, and Meelo started waving at us. When the bison landed on the vacant wooden dock, hey all hopped on as Meelo greeted them.

"My dad's at the temple, he's eager to see you." Meelo said as he helped Ryu up.

Ryu got in the saddle with the rest.

"Pepper, Yip Yip!" Meelo said, and the bison leaped off of the dock like Appa did with Ryu.

Yin and Sara instantly start to scream, while Ryu was calm.

"What, you two haven't flown on a bison before?" Ryu said, chuckling.

Yin responded, but Ryu couldn't hear him, probably something profane anyway.

They landed on the island, and immediately someone landed from the sky right by Pepper. It was a man who looked similar to Ryu, grown up with a bit of a mustache. His hair was cut on the sides and wild on the top with green eyes like Ryu as well. They dismounted and walked over to him.

"Kai, where's Jinora?" Meelo asked.

"She's meditating with Tenzin," the man said.

Ryu, behind Meelo, peered around to see the man.

"Is this the Avatar?" He asked.

Ryu waved shyly.

"Hey man!" He said, shaking his hand. "Tenzin is probably dying to meet you, you should go see him." "We're going to see him now." Meelo said, and he started to walk around the temple.

"We're going to see him now." Meelo said, and he started to walk around the temple.

Jinora and Tenzin were outside meditating in a Gazebo with incense lightly floating around the air. Both of them with their fists brought together and in the lotus position. Meelo walked up with the rest of the group. He brought up his hands and shoved them forwards, creating a large gust of wind that disrupted the incense and their meditation session. Jinora and Tenzin opened their eyes, visibly unhappy at Meelo, who started smiling. They both got up as the group walked up to the gazebo. Tenzin, A bald man with a few wrinkles and a beard with grey and black hair, walked up to Yin and started shaking his hand.

"You must be Avatar Ryu, pleased to meet you." He said.

"Um..Dad?" Jinora said, "This is Avatar Ryu," She said as she put a small hand on Ryu's shoulder.

Ryu extended his hand to Tenzin.

"Oh, my mistake." He said as he extended his hand to Ryu.

"You're getting old, dad," Meelo said.

" _What_?! Nobody told me!" Tenzin said.

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Tenzin. I've had the fortune of seeing three Avatars in my lifetime now,"

"Pleased to meet you as well," Ryu said.

"Are you hungry? We have lunch in the temple," Tenzin said.

"We could eat," Bolin said.

"Follow me," Tenzin said as they all followed him into the temple.

He led them up the stairs and into a small dining hall with a simple design, made entirely of wood. People in air nation clothes and air acolyte clothes eating together. There were pillows on the floor instead of chairs. They sat down at an empty table where an Acolyte delivered them all the same lunch, toasted bread, vegetable dumplings, a bit of rice, and tea. Ryu and Yin learned in school that the Air Nation was primarily vegetarian, but they never thought they would be eating with them one day. Ryu told Tenzin what Omashu was like, and Tenzin told him about the stories Aang would tell him. How Aang and a previous king would use the mail system as slides, a severe crime in Omashu today. Ryu told him about how they would meditate every day as a class, and Tenzin dropped a bit of truth on him.

"That was because of me," He said as he ate a piece of bread.

"Wait...What? Why?" Ryu asked him.

"Your predecessor was out of touch with her spiritual side. It hindered her in battle as she focused too much on the physical aspects. Korra and I made an agreement with the White Lotus to make sure that the next Avatar at least had a foothold with their spiritual side." Tenzin said.

"Well, great job because I've been in touch with her and other Avatars," Ryu blurted before taking a bite of dumpling.

Everyone at the table looked at him without saying anything.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Ryu said as he reached for a napkin to wipe his face.

"You talked to Korra?" Tenzin asked,

"How is she?" Bolin asked,

"What did she say?" Mako asked,

"Did she tell you anything important?" Asami asked.

They all tried to talk over each other to get an answer, but Ryu couldn't hear anything. Ryu looked around to see them clamoring over one another's sentences to get his attention.

Ryu quickly got up and ran out of the dining hall.

"Yeah, I should've warned you guys about that," Yin said.

The next thing Ryu remembered, he was in a room with a single mat in the middle and unlit candles all around. He crouched in the corner, wanting to hide from the others and their probing questions.

Eventually, Yin found him.

"Hey," He said, "We've been looking for you for a while, they almost thought you left the island."

"I'm sorry." Ryu said.

"They all feel that it's their fault," Yin said, "They feel that they overwhelmed you."

"They kind of did," Ryu said, "I was completely caught off guard."

At that moment, Jinora came running down the hall and found them.

"There you are," She said, "The rest of the group is back in the dining hall, they promise to drop the subject."

They headed back to the dining room and they rest of the group, sat at the table, turned around to see Ryu. The other three sat back in their spots. It was dead silent in the hall for a while. A pin drop at the moment would draw everyone's attention. Asami broke the silence.

"We're really sorry," She said, "we're all really sorry,"

she looked around the table, trying to give the others a hint. They all took her hint and agreed with her.

"I don't want to talk about it." Ryu said.

They brought up other subjects to ease the tension.

"We'll see you guys tonight!" Jinora said as Pepper took off into the air and back towards Republic City. The ride was pleasant for Ryu, but terrifying for Yin, which made Ryu laugh. They stopped by the pier to drop off Asami at her car. She waved as she got in.

"I'll be back with a better car for the Gala!" She said as the car came to life. Pepper lifted off once again into the sky, headed to the penthouse.

Pepper landed on Mako and Bolin's roof and they all got off. "Bye Meelo!" Bolin yelled as Pepper took off and flew back towards Air Temple Island.

They went down from the roof and into the penthouse. The trio went to their rooms and Yin and Ryu saw the suits they picked out on their bed. Sara said she packed all of her clothing, including a fancy red dress with some black in it and black heels that made her tall up to Ryu's nose. Ryu went to take a shower and change in the bathroom, and Sara did the same after him.

[-]

"Sara!" Ryu yelled into the bathroom,

"What!" She yelled back,

"It's almost time to go!" He said.

"I know! I'll be out in a minute!" She said.

Ryu left the room and went back to the living room.

"She said she'll be out in a minute." He told them.

Yin slouched on the couch as the watched the news displaying a decorated city hall awaiting them.

After a while, Asami came into the penthouse. "I've been waiting for ten minutes, what's the hold-up? She asked.

At that moment, Sara came out in her outfit and makeup on with a red lipstick that matched her dress. Her hair was pinned up an a fancy bun, with a strand of hair on either side of her face curled.

"How do I look?" She asked.

Ryu stood up quickly. "You look great!" He said.

"We're gonna be late if we wait any longer, we need to go!" Bolin said. They all left the building and got into the limousine.

When the limousine pulled up, they could see a different bison than Pepper landing nearby, holding Meelo, Tenzin, Jinora, Kai, and a woman the didn't meet. Pepper landed as the Limousine stopped in front of the red carpet. They decided to have Bolin, Mako, and Asami get out first, and then Ryu, Yin, and Sara.

Bolin, Mako, and Asami got out and the cameras started flashing, taking pictures of them. The small crowd leading to City Hall started trying to reach out to touch them, and some asked questions. They walked up all the way to the City hall, and then Ryu, Yin, and Sara got out. Ryu stood in the middle as Yin was on his right and Sara on his left. They waved at the crowds as they reached out to touch them. Sara shook one person's hand, which prompted the other two to do the same. The three got up to City Hall and joined the others. The cameras started to flash to get pictures of the two generations.

The group walked in and met up with Meelo, Jinora, Kai, Tenzin, and the woman who was with them. She had black and gray hair and traditional Air Nation clothing.

"This is my wife, Pema." Tenzin said, and she shook Ryu's hand.

President Raiko walked in and greeted them. He then ushered the six to the table in the front of the room. The chairs were aligned in a row so that everyone in the room could see them. They had name cards for each person to sit at, and Ryu sat in the middle with Yin and Sara on either side. Each seat had a white plate in on the table with a fork, spoon, knife and a glass of water with a napkin on the plate. Before they sat down, a woman with dark grey hair came up in an all metal outfit and a police badge on. She had two visible identical scars that were slightly a pinker color than her cream-colored face. She started to shake their hands, and she looked at Ryu and Yin.

"Alright, so which one of you was a pain in my side fifteen years ago," She said with her hand on her side, a very intimidating look.

Yin instantly pointed at Ryu, and Ryu elbowed him on the shoulder. She stared at him for a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity for Ryu who was on the receiving end of her death stare. She reached out a hand, and Ryu hesitatingly shook it. A smile started to come across her face, and Ryu instantly thought of Suyin.

"Chief Beifong, this is Ryu-" Bolin started to say, but she cut him off.

"You think the White Lotus didn't tell me?" She said to him.

"Just do me a favor and don't get into much favor," She said to him.

"Yes ma'am," Ryu said, nodding his head.

She walked away, and Ryu relaxed. They sat in their seats, and a bunch of people in fancy outfits came out with food. They all had the same meal, Badger steak, rice, steamed lobster tail, and vegetable rolls. Tenzin and his family of course turned in their meals in exchange for a vegetarian option.

When the Hall was filled with people in extravagant clothing, President Raiko came up to the front of the hall with a microphone in one hand and a drink in another. When he got to the front of the hall, everybody in it got silent. Yin looked up with a mouthful of rice that he swallowed quickly.

"A toast," He started to say into the microphone, "To Avatar Ryu. May you and your spirit live on for a thousand-thousand years!"

Everyone in the room started to clang glasses. Raiko turned around to Ryu and held up his glass as if he were offering it to him. Ryu picked up his glass and clanged it with his and took a sip, imitating the others in the room. President Raiko went to go sit back down at his table.

When they were finished with dinner, music started playing, and people started to get on the space between the main table and the guest's tables. As Ryu walked down with the others, two men walked up, one with a big, bulky camera on his shoulder, and the other with a microphone in hand who looked familiar.

"My my, if it isn't the Avatar!" The man said in his signature announcing voice.

"You're the guy from TV?" Ryu asked.

"In the flesh!" He said. "Shiro Shinobi, nice to meet you."

He extended his hand to Ryu and Ryu shook it.

"Do you mind saying something to the camera, kid?" Shiro asked him.

"Um...Sure…" Ryu said hesitantly.

"It's great to be here in Republic City!" He said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. "I hope I can see all there is to it before I continue my training."

"Thanks, kid," He said, and they walked away.

Ryu was leaning up against the wall with Yin as Bolin and Mako were talking to others Yin would point out people in odd clothing and Ryu would laugh. After a while, Asami walked up with a smile on her face. She grabbed Ryu's arm and pulled him onto the dance floor. When they were on the floor, she reached out over his shoulder and grabbed his hand and started to dance to the dramatic music. He followed her lead, but it was fun and funny for both of them.

"You alright from the air temple?" She asked mid-dance.

"I'm fine now," He said.

"What dance is this called?" He asked her.

"The tango!" She said as she kept leading the dance.

When they were done, Ryu was laughing. He felt a strong connection with Asami, as if they were friends for years. He stood back by Yin, who was chuckling to himself.

After a while, a slow dance came up, and Ryu stepped to the side to get out of the way. While he was walking, Someone grabbed his arm. He turned around to see Sara.

"Will you dance with me?" She asked.

"Sure," He said.

They went on the dance floor and she wrapped her hands around his neck. He put her hands on her sides, too high for a slow dance. After a little bit, Sara spoke up.

"Lower your hands, their almost up my armpits," She whispered.

"Oh, uh…" Ryu said while starting to blush.

She quickly grabbed his hands and lowered them onto her waist.

"Was that so hard?" She asked.

[-]

Three men walked into the hall, which caught Lin's attention. She walked over to them, and instantly recognized them. Three men from the Gooseneck Triad, a gang that has gotten out of the law's hands for the past twenty years. She walked up to them and blocked their path.

"You men aren't welcome to this gala, please leave." She said with her hands on her hips.

"Oh calm down, Chief." One said. "We're just here to see the Avatar and give our greetings." He said with a smirk fit for the devil.

She started to usher them out. "He doesn't need your greetings, now leave." She said as she ushered them out to the hall way.

She walked back to the gala, and one peeked his head back in. He saw Ryu dancing with Sara slowly.

A straight shot. Easy target.

He took his fist and punched a fire strike straight at them. It caught the attention of every guest in the room as it whizzed past their heads. It hit Sara in her leg head on. She screamed and collapsed. The entire hall fell into dissent as people started to leap out of their seats and run out of City Hall. Yin bended the water from people's drinks into a stream that he bended onto Sara's dress to stop the fire the strike created on her dress. The dress was ruined, as there were scorch marks running across her left leg. Ryu lifted the dress up to exposed her leg that had burns all across it. She looked and started to breathe heavily.

"I need you to calm down, we'll get help," Ryu said in a calm voice.

The group waked up to them with Tenzin and Jinora.

"What happened?" Bolin asked.

"I don't know!" Ryu started to say.

"Sara's hurt!" He said.

"Meelo's getting Oogi and bringing him to the front, we can take her to the city's healers," Jinora said.

Ryu picked Sara up and they started running to the exit.

When they got out, Oogi landed right in the front, where Lin was trying to direct the last people into a somewhat orderly fashion. Ryu handed Sara to Meelo, who brought her up and laid her on Oogi's saddle while trying to calm them down. Tenzin guided Oogi out of sight.

In the darkness, Ryu saw Ice spikes fly straight to them. He jumped in front of everyone and raised the earth to use as a shield. The ice spikes hit the shield. He breathed in and did two strikes towards where the ice spikes came from. From the darkness, a large boulder came hurdling towards them. Bolin stepped up to help Ryu with the boulder. They both punched the boulder and it crumbled into a bunch of smaller rocks. When the last person was out of sight, Lin darted into the darkness to pursue the attackers. As soon as she left, multiple fire strikes came from their right. Mako and Ryu tried to block them, but it knocked them down.

"I've got it on this side."

Mako said, and at that time, they heard a scream from where Lin had run off to. Ryu darted straight for the darkness alone.

He got there and saw Lin trying to fight aggressors, but they were overwhelming her with water, earth, and fire. One person shot a large fire strike right at her. She bended a large piece of earth up to protect her, but it wasn't enough. She was blown back into the side of a building. They were about to grab her when Ryu stepped in. He started punching towards them, creating fire strikes to hold them off. One man bended a large stream of water from the fountain nearby to protect them. Ryu struck both fists out, and a large slab of rock protruded out on an angle so that they were knocked back. He brought up a large piece of earth and shaped it into a spike with a sharp tip, and aimed it at someone. The person narrowly dodged it, but the very tip cut their cheek wide open. He kept on launching things at them, but then got struck in the back by a fire strike. He was knocked on his stomach, and people started to run towards him to catch him. A man picked him up, with Ryu trying to fight it. Right when they were about to take him away, the water from the fountain splashed them so hard, it knocked Ryu out of their grip. Ryu looked to see Yin running to help.

" **Need some help?!** " Yin yelled.

He bended the water from the fountain into an octopus formation, and started attacking. Ryu got back up and started helping, launching boulders and striking them with fire. Ryu created obstacles for them to stumble on while Yin started to throw ice shards.

They continued to fend them off until more people came, and they were outnumbered heavily. Lin came to, and saw the predicament they were in. She looked up in the sky to see a police ship finally arrive. She got up and ran to Ryu and Yin, who were being encircled by the attackers. She bended the cables in both arms up to the ship, and they connected.

"Grab on!" She yelled, and they both held on tightly to either arm.

She started retracting the cables, and they flew into the air towards the airship. Ryu closed his eyes, and Yin held on as tight as possible as they approached the airship.

Ryu laid down on the bench, while Yin sat on the other one. The airship hovered in place while police dealt with the situation on the ground. After a while, the ship started to move, and Ryu looked out the window. They were headed back to City Hall.

They walked back into the hall to see Mako, Bolin, and Asami.

"The car's waiting outside," Asami said. "We need to go to the city's healers to check on Sara."

They left the messy hall and got in the car. As the car pulled away, it was dead silent, and everybody's head hung low.


	13. Chapter 13

**The 13th Chapter of the series, hope you like it! Please Like, comment, and follow for more!**

* * *

They walked back into the hall to see Mako, Bolin, and Asami.

"The car's waiting outside," Asami said. "We need to go to the city's healers to check on Sara."

They left the messy hall and got in the car. As the car pulled away, it was dead silent, and everybody's head hung low.

When they arrived at the city's healers, they all piled out of the car and walked straight in. Ryu walked up to the front desk and the man behind it greeted him.

"Can you tell me where Suvara Bei Tsar is?" Ryu asked.

"I'll show you," He said, and got from behind the desk and led them into the large hospital room with beds in a row on either side of the room.

Suvara was the only one in the room, propped up on the bed, with her burned dress still on. They surrounded her bed, and she said hi to them.

"How do you feel?" Bolin asked.

"I feel fine, but the healers said I just won't be able to walk completely by myself tonight. The healers said I should be walking by tomorrow." Sara said. "Who did this?" She asked.

"The Gooseneck Triad," A voice said as someone walked straight into the room.

They all turned around to see Lin walk towards them. "A gang that has members from all the other gangs in the city," She said, "They've evaded the law for the past twenty years, except for tonight. We got a few of them, and put a warrant out for the others.".

"At least something came out of tonight," Yin said. "Well it would have all gone down the drain if Ryu didn't run over to help," Lin said, "You got skills and guts kid." She focused on Sara. "How are you doing?" She asked her. "I'm fine, just want to go to sleep." She said. "Well, we have had enough exercise for one day, let's go home," Mako said.

When they got to Mako and Bolin's apartment, Sara was using Ryu as a light support. Everyone was so tired that they went straight to their rooms without saying anything. Sara got into the bathroom and changed without any assistance, and then Ryu did the same. When Ryu got into the bed, Sara couldn't resist but ask questions.

"When we were at the temple, you said you talked to your past lives, right?" She asked.

"Yes," He responded.

"Can you tell me what you've been told?" She asked.

Ryu began overwhelming her with information. How Roku, Aang, and Korra would speak to him in the Spirit World. How he thinks she gave him the unknowing knowledge that he could firebend. How they explained to him that he was the Avatar. How Korra explained the Avatar State. She cut him off while he talked.

"Hold on a minute, and get my small bag in the corner," she said as she pointed to the corner of the room.

Ryu went to get the bag and handed it to her. She opened the bag and handed Ryu three books. On the cover, it said _Spirit Occurrences by Wasun Bei Tsar_ in shiny, green letters.

"What's this?" Ryu asked, and she helped him get to the page she read a few nights ago.

After reading the sections on the Avatar, Ryu felt proud and a bit scared about his power that was detailed in the books. How he had the ability to use all four elements with incredible strength and power, more than anyone in the world. It explained the Avatar State a little more than Korra did.

"I think there's something about what you were talking about on the last page of this volume," She said as she handed him another volume.

He turned to the last page to see the section on the Avatar, and this one was labeled ' _Eternal lives'._ Ryu read it, and instantly realized why he had such a connection with Korra, Roku, and Aang. Those were his past lives, who are there to mentor skimming through the book, Ryu fell asleep with the book in his hands.

* * *

Ryu was awoken by Yin standing over his bed with a startled and scared look on his face in the middle of the night.

"What's wrong?" Ryu asked in a half-sleep voice.

"I had one of the dreams again," Yin responded.

Ryu was immediately fully awake. He knew how scary these dreams could be for Yin, how he had to re-live the last time he saw his parents, and sometimes his brother's death. Ryu turned on the lights, which woke Sara up.

"I saw when my mom handed me to my brother, the concerned look she had in her eyes. As the house started to be engulfed in flames, I was losing consciousness because of the fumes. I remember how my mom said that she'd see me soon as I lost consciousness." Ryu said with a blank look on his face.

"Wait, what happened?" Sara said, still somewhat asleep.

"When I was little, my mom, dad, and brother lived in a small house in the lower class area of the city-state of Wheng," Yin said. "Nothing special, one room for us all to sleep in, and a kitchen. One night, when I was six, the house caught on fire in our sleep. I got burned, so my mom and dad were going to alert officials that the house was on fire and my brother, Kohad, was supposed to take me to the healers. Mom and Dad said they were going to be back to get us. Kohad took me to the healers, but mom and dad never came to get us. The house burned down, but we never found out if mom and dad died in there or not trying to get stuff or what happened. Kohad took me from city to city for about two years, wherever we could find food and sleep, we stayed. He taught me waterbending as well."

A tear streamed down Yin's face as he thought about it more. He wasn't one to cry much, this was one of the only occasions Ryu saw him cry. Ryu started thinking about his situation, and he started having a faceless expression as well.

"Ryu, what's wrong?" Sara asked.

Ryu snapped out of it. "It's nothing, don't worry about it," Ryu responded.

"I know that face," Yin said as he wiped a tear from his eye.

"You're thinking about your past. Come to think of it, you never told me about how you were orphaned."

Ryu thought about it. "You're right," He said, "But there's not much to it. I lived in Gaoling to a well-off family. When I was five, they decided they didn't want me anymore and left me on the outskirts of Gaoling." Ryu said.

Although that happened ten years ago, he could still remember it vividly.

"They...They left you for dead?" Yin asked.

Ryu nodded.

"I-I never knew…" Yin said.

"If I knew, I would've never really treated you like I did in Omashu. I would've stuck by more I-I" Ryu cut him off.

"It's alright, you didn't know," He said to Yin.

"What did you do for three years? How did you survive?" Yin asked.

A question that couldn't be easier for Ryu. "I got lucky." He said to them,

"A man found me hours after my parents had left me. He told me to call him Sparo, and taught me earthbending along with other kids who had been orphaned in the area. He would steal food from the richer parts of town and feed them to us, usually skipping out on meals to make sure we ate. He told us all the time that he wanted to help us for the time when he wouldn't be around to fend for us." Ryu looked down and closed his eyes.

"One day, he went out to get our food, like any other day. He usually tried not to take long, but this time he was gone almost half a day while we stayed in the little hut he built on the outskirts of Gaoling. Someone walked in, but it wasn't Sparo. It was an Earth Nation general, fully decorated. Multiple soldiers walked in while metalbending strips of metal that were going to be used as restraints. I remember the General saying that it was just a bunch of children, and started escorting us out. When I walked out, they handed each of us a piece of fruit to eat. I looked around to see soldiers all around the hut standing at an attention position. I looked around more and saw an unsettling sight. Sparo was being restrained and held back by the soldiers, even though he didn't resist. He watched us walk out of the hut, and I could see a tear stream down his face. Instead of getting into the large vehicle they had the rest of the six kids get in, I ran to him. When I got to him…" Ryu stopped talking. He felt a lump in his throat as he remembered the words Sparo said to him.

"He told me not to worry, and that our paths will cross one day, and to never forget what he did," Ryu said, reliving the scenario. "The Earth Nation soldiers grabbed me and took me into the car. That's where I met Syu, and that's when they took us to Omashu." He opened his eyes to see them both intent and on the edge of their seat.

"Yin, we should try to get some sleep now," Ryu said to him.

"Alright, goodnight I guess." He said quietly as he walked out of the room slowly.

Ryu got up and went to the bathroom to dry his eyes.

When he walked back into the room, Sara was standing up, trying not to put a lot of pressure on her left leg.

"What are you doing? You should be laying down." He said, but she walked up to him, and hugged him tightly. Ryu blushed and hugged her back. "You're not alone anymore. You've got us." She said although it was muffled.

They both got back into the bed on their separate sides and went to sleep.

* * *

Bolin woke them up in the morning, and Mako taught him a little more formal firebending. Kicks, fire circles, and how to tank an attack. When he was done for the day, Asami said that she wanted to take them for a ride. "Well, Sara is still sleeping, so we can't bring her…" Asami said, and the three went downstairs to her car.

Asami pulled up to a very tall building that had the Future Industries logo on it. They got out of the car and they walked into the building, where Asami was greeted. They took a lift up to the top floor, where her office was. Ryu and Yin sat on a couch that sat against the wall.

"Why did you bring us here?" Yin asked.

"To get you guys out of the apartment, see the city so you don't get too bored," Asami said as she sat down behind her desk.

A few minutes after she sat down and started looking at blueprints, the phone on her desk rang. She picked it up and answered

"Hello?" the person talked, but neither Ryu nor Yin could hear it from so far away. She slammed the phone down and sat down in a big huff.

"Everything alright?" Ryu asked.

"No, It's not. I need to collect rent from various places across the city and my collector just called in sick. I would do the job for the day, but I have a high-stakes meeting that I've already postponed twice. I don't know what to do." There was a long pause before Yin responded.

"We'll do it!" He said with a smile on his face.

"No," Asami said immediately.

"Oh cmon, you said you wanted us to see the city!" Yin said.

"But you guys don't know the city well," She said with hesitation.

"Please!" Yin said, almost begging.

"Fine." She said, and pulled out a map from her desk and grabbed a marker. She circled a building near the middle of the city. "That's where we are." She said, and grabbed a different color marker and started different buildings around the city. "Those are the places I need you to collect money from." She said, and pulled out a wad of cash and keys. "This is for lunch and these are the keys to the car. The only reason I'm letting you guys do this is because I'm out of options, okay?" she said. Ryu took the cash and Yin grabbed the keys and they walked out of the office. "Try not to hit anything, please!" She pleaded with them as the office door closed. " _This was a bad idea_ ," She muttered to herself.

As Ryu and Yin went down the stairs, Yin commented how fun it would be to drive the car.

"Woah woah woah," Ryu responded to Yin's excitement. "Who said you could drive the car?"

"I'm older," Yin responded with a smirk on his face and continued descending the stairs.

"By one season!" Ryu responded.

"And, technically I'm over ten thousand years old, meaning I overwhelm you in age." Ryu extended his hand and closed his eyes. Yin threw the keys at his face and they slid into the palm of his hands, while Ryu had a frown on his face and a slight mark on his forehead.

When Ryu and Yin got in the car, Ryu put the key in the ignition and turned it. The car came to life and started to shake slightly.

"Do you even know how to drive a car?" Yin asked.

"It can't be far from what we've seen before." Ryu said, "Now, I wonder which pedal makes it go?" Yin rolled his eyes and made an audible sigh. He chose one pedal, and the car lurched forward. He quickly pressed the other pedal, and the car came to a full stop. Ryu looked at Yin, and Yin had a startled look on his face. "Can you look at the map?" Ryu asked.

As Ryu weaved through cars, Yin looked at the map while trying his hardest not to get too nauseous from Ryu's driving. He gave the right directions, and they ended up right at the building. A way smaller, more bland building than Asami's. They walked right in and went to the front desk.

"We're here to collect rent on behalf of Future Industries," Yin said in a posh tone.

"Ah, go to the top floor, Mr. Sayu should have the rent." The man behind the desk said.

"Thank you," Yin said, and they got on the lift to the top floor.

"What was with that voice?" Ryu asked.

"Ryu, this isn't Omashu," Yin said.

"Obviously," Ryu responded,

"You need to know how to talk to people in the big city!" Yin said.

The lift opened on the top floor and they got out. "Watch and learn." He said, and they knocked on the only door on the floor. The door opened, and behind it was a man in a suit with graying hair, and a bushy mustache.

"We're here to collect rent on behalf of Future Industries, good sir!" Yin said in an even more posh tone of voice.

"Uh, okay." The man said awkwardly. He grabbed a bag and handed it to them, with the month's rent in wads inside.

"Thank you kind gentleman!" Yin responded and bowed to him. "Uh...You're welcome?"

The man said back and closed the door.

"Smooth…" Ryu told Yin as they walked back to the lift.

They went to the other buildings Asami circled on the map for the rest of the day, it becoming a miracle Yin hadn't vomited from Ryu's poor driving skills. Soon, it was time for lunch, so Ryu drove to the building Asami circled for lunch with three close calls that could've ended in disaster. They got out of the car, and Yin had a little trouble getting out, becoming dizzy while trying to get out. The place Asami circled was a cafe, with a small amount of people inside. Ryu ordered a five-flavor soup with pork and Yin ordered steamed fish. They sat in silence until Yin broke it.

"Ok, I have to ask, you really didn't know that you were the avatar before that fight?" He asked.

"No, I mean I had a few dreams with Avatar Korra and Avatar Aang and Avatar Roku before that, but I didn't know who they were. It was really weird dreams…" Ryu responded.

"Why didn't you tell me about them! Maybe it would've helped!" Yin said with an excited look on his face.

"I really didn't think you would even care," Ryu said back.

Yin put his head in his hands. "I probably wouldn't have even listened." He told Ryu. He patted Ryu on the back and apologized again.

They went into silence again, until Yin looked up across the booth to see the booth across from them had a few girls in school uniforms, one who made eye contact with Yin and smiled. Yin smiled back and looked at Ryu.

" _Look!"_ He told Ryu, and Ryu looked to see the five girls. "I'm gonna go talk to them," Yin said.

Back in Omashu, Yin was always trying with girls. He never was without a girlfriend for any more than two weeks. Ryu remembered how he and his girlfriend would either hold hands or kiss, whichever they felt like at the time.

"Whatever," Ryu said as Yin went over to the booth and started talking to them.

Ryu heard giggling, muffled talking, and some whispering until Yin came back with a startled look on his face.

"What's wrong? Spit it out!" Ryu said.

"They want to see you like really want to see you." He said.

Ryu slowly turned his head to see the girls, two smiling, the other three smiling and waving. One came over, she had curly red hair, light freckles, and slightly pale skin.

"You're the Avatar!" The girl exclaimed.

"Yeah," Ryu said awkwardly. She extended her hand for him to shake.

"I'm Tiran," she said, and Ryu shook her hand.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" She asked.

"Oh, not at all!" Ryu said She sat right next to him as she was scooting over. Yin took his spot back.

"So what's it like being an orphan?" Tiran said as she took a petite sip from her drink.

"There isn't much to it, I'm a teen just like you," Ryu responded while eating a bit of his soup.

"Well, not _just_ like us," She said, "you being the Avatar and all." She said, smiling.

"What about you?" She said to Yin.

He looked up while munching on a piece of duck, so he wiped his mouth before responding.

"I am a waterbender and had the pleasure of seeing him find out he was the Avatar," Yin said with a smirk on his face.

"Really?! How was that?" Tiran asked.

"He got into this _**big**_ fight with the school bully who forced him to fight with him," Yin said, over exaggerating.

"It wasn't _that_ big," Ryu tried to cut in, but Yin responded right back.

"Oh, yes it was, the guy was a firebending prodigy, matched against Ryu's prodigy in earthbending. They had such a big fight, and Ryu was doing so master level-earthbending moves."

Yin got Tiran on the edge of her seat, wondering what was going to happen next.

"But after Ryu tried attacking with a rod he made with metalbending, the bully overpowered him and pushed him back. Just as he was about to make the final blow…" Yin added a suspenseful pause, Tiran was extremely fixated on Yin telling the story, and Ryu was still trying to wrap his head around why Yin was over exaggerating so much.

"He started to firebend!" Yin said just a little too loud for their setting.

"He beat the kid with both fire and earth!" Yin said. Tiran looked at Ryu.

"Is that true?" She asked.

"Well, not-" Yin cut Ryu off mid-sentence. "Of course it is! He's the Avatar, it's supposed to be a crazy story!" Yin said excitedly. He then winked at Ryu, and they continued to eat lunch.

They left the Cafe with Tiran, and they walked down a sidewalk, until they came across an alley. Tiran grabbed Ryu's arm and pulled him down the alleyway without Yin noticing, walking in front of them. Yin stopped in his tracks as he saw the person standing on the upcoming corner.

Tiran pushed him onto a wall and smirked. Ryu was surprised by her move.

"What's going on?" Ryu asked.

"Nothing. I just wanted to do this." She said, and she pressed her lips against his.

Ryu's heart started to beat rapidly, but it was cut short by Yin. Tiran looked back at Yin, and so did Ryu.

"I don't mean to interrupt...Whatever this is supposed to be, but Ryu you need to see this."

Ryu got from against the wall and started to walk over to Yin. " _This is the second time you've done this to me!"_ Ryu whispered to him.

"Wait, second?" Yin said.

"Nevermind…" Ryu told him hesitantly.

"What is it you wanted me to see?" Ryu said.

"That's one of the guys from last night!" Yin exclaimed in Ryu's ear. The man turned his face, and Ryu saw a distinguishable mark on his face, a very similar gash that Ryu left on the man on his cheek last night.

"We need to get him somehow so we can turn him into the police…" Ryu said.

"How are we going to do that?" Ryu slammed the heel of his foot into the ground, and it created an earth line. The line of twisted columns raised in and out of the ground until it reached the man, who was knocked into the air and onto the ground. Ryu ran towards him, with vengeance in mind.

" _Well, that's one way to do it,"_ Yin said to himself. He looked back at Tiran, who looked surprised. "It was nice meeting you!" He said as he darted for the fight.

Ryu ran straight to him and kicked, creating a large bolt of fire that hurdled towards the man. The man dodged the attack and started talking. "I didn't think I'd see you again,"

Ryu jumped into the air and launched a boulder straight towards his head.

He dodged it, barely.

"Now, you're dead kid!" The man said, and he got knocked down again by Yin, who came over with a large stream of water. Ryu started to make a fissure in the ground when the man hit him with a fire attack that he couldn't take. Ryu got up, extremely angry, and did more than he thought he could do. He tried to move a frail metal chair that stayed right next to one of the shops to hit the man, but instead of the chair, the entire wall of the shop, and smacked him straight into the window of another shop. He laid in the shop, motionless, as the dust moved all around from the attack. The two then heard sirens come from the sky. They looked up to see a police airship right above them, as it cast a shadow over them. The officers jumped off of the airship, and extended their arms, having their metal cables spool from their arms, and latch onto the electricity cables, so that their landing was soft.

"Hold it right there!" one officer yelled to Ryu and Yin.

Two officers quickly subdued them with metal cables, binding their limbs with their bodies. "You two are under arrest!" Another officer said.

They were taken up into the airship and put into holding cells. Ryu tried to explain who he was and what they were doing, but no one listened.

"Tell it to the chief!" One officer said.

Yin immediately got an idea. "That's it!" He said.

"What?" Ryu asked.

"We'll just tell Chief Beifong and she'll let us off!"

"Maybe, or maybe she'll throw us in jail," Ryu said with no hope.

"She can't throw you in jail, you're too powerful for that!" Yin said.

"Yeah, we'll see," Ryu said.

They arrived to a cell and were immediately put into a room with two metal chairs, one on either side of the room. Ryu sat down and Yin stood up, as confident as ever.

After waiting a while, the door opened up to see just exactly who they expected. Lin closed her eyes and shook her head. "Are you determined to follow in Korra's footsteps? It's starting to get frightening how much you're resembling her." She said in an annoyed tone.

"It wasn't our fault!" Yin said. "It wasn't your fault that you ripped the wall of a shop clean off?!" She asked while sliding pictures to us, showing the damage to both shops.

"I have to admit, I've never seen damage like this from one person, but that doesn't get you off free."

"We saw one of the guys from last night!" Ryu said.

"...What?" She said

"The guy I attacked was from last night. He must've fled but I made a large gash in his face and that's what I saw!" Ryu said.

She sat and looked at the pictures briefly. "We held him in for questioning earlier and he seemed on edge. I'll have a team look for him."

"So we're free to go?" Yin said with his face lit up "Of course not! All the property damage you caused? We called Asami to come pick you up and pay for your bail. Stay here." She said, and she got up and left

Asami picked them up and posted their bail.

"I would be mad at you, but Korra warned me about this on her deathbed." She said as she started the car to take them back.

"And whoever drove the car did a great job!" She said as there were no scratches on the car.

Ryu looked at Yin who rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, Asami!" Ryu said to her.

When they arrived at the apartment, Mako, Bolin, and Sara stood up from sitting down on the couch. Sara walked quickly over to the boys and hugged them.

"Don't scare me like that again!" She said in a hostile tone.

"Well, we just got the call from Chief Beifong about what you did. The city isn't safe for you guys anymore." Bolin said.

"You're gonna have to stay in here until it's time for you to go," Mako said.

They all sat on the couches and talked a bit.

"The Gooseneck Triad has been getting more powerful in the past few years, I just didn't think they would have tried to attack you like they did last night," Asami said.

After talking a bit, Ryu saw a white letter slip towards them under the door. Everyone looked over to see it, and Mako got up cautiously to pick it up. When he picked it up, he saw that it was held together by a White Lotus sticker. He opened it carefully and read it to himself, no indications what it read on his face.

He looked up and turned his head toward the trio. "Pack your things," He said, "they're bringing you to Zaofu early."

* * *

 **So sorry this took so long to do! It may be a while until I post again, I don't know, but I hope to not be gone as long as before :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**This is Chapter 14 of the Chronicles of Ryu! Be sure to favorite, subscribe, and please comment feedback! I love to see reviews, and it really does help me with the story and get them out faster. Enjoy!**

* * *

That morning, they packed their stuff and boarded the airship to Zaofu without Mako, Bolin, and the others for unknown reasons. No one special was with them as they could see, so it was a quiet ride. They read magazines, told Sara more about Omashu, and were able to turn on the television and watch a mover.

They were alerted that they were about to land, and they looked out the windows. Ryu gawked at the city they were descending on. Tucked in a valley and almost completely blocked out from the outside world by the mountains surrounding it, Zaofu appeared before their eyes. The city was divided into areas of the downtown area main city, what looked like a housing area, an airship dock, and others. The buildings were all made of metal that scintillated in the sun's rays. The big metal plates that resembled blooming lotus petals around each separated section of the city reflected onto the ship's glass, blinding their vision for a second.

"It says right here that Zaofu is so shiny, you can see it from space!" Yin said, reading from the magazine.

"I highly doubt that, probably just something to attract more visitors," Sara said.

The airship floated to a dock as metalbenders attached cords to it and docked it safely.

As the trio stepped off, they were greeted by people standing on either side of a red carpet wearing colorful clothing. They threw flowers in the air jubilantly to greet them. Sara bent down to grab a few of the most vibrant ones for herself. From a tunnel on the side of the dock emerged Suyin along with two guards, and Ryu realized the guards in the same uniforms were all over the place and entered the airship in a position ready to take offense.

"Suyin!" Ryu exclaimed when he saw her.

"Oh, hello again you three!" She said with passion in her voice.

"We had to plan last notice on your arrival, security had to be beefed up from its normal level here. I'm sure you guys had a long flight so let's go get you all some dinner at where you'll be living." She said as she turned around and followed her to the tram system.

The tram system glided along the rails and show the trio the city made completely of metal of all sorts of colors that dazzled in the sun's light. People were seen around the city, some metalbending, some using other elements, some just walking around. The city amazed the three and they couldn't take their eyes off of the windows of the tram.

The tram left the city and continued on the track through a valley woods to another area of the city that was surrounded by the big metal lotus petals.

"This is where you'll be living and mastering earth and metalbending," Suyin said as they arrived at the area, an estate, unlike any Ryu or Yin, had seen.

"Is this where you live?" Yin asked.

"Sure do," She said as the tram came to a stop.

They exited and saw more than a house. There were gardens, small arenas with earth and metal, art, and more to preoccupy anyone.

"It's been pretty quiet here for a while. My sons Wei, Wing, and Baatar jr. went to expand the metal clan and make more autonomous states, my husband is there for a few months helping them out with the engineering, my other son, Huan, went to discover the world, and my daughter, Opal, travels between the Air Temples. It's great to have more people on the estate. You'll have lots of places to practice your bending, and Ryu, you'll have comprehensive training from me." Suyin said with a smile.

"I'm an earthbender too," Sara said, "Could I maybe watch the practices?"

"No," Suyin said to her without hesitation.

Sara looked confused beyond belief. "If you're going to be traveling with the Avatar, you need to be learning, not watching. And besides, earthbending is a hands-on learning experience, you can't learn by watching. Soon you'll have someone to teach you earthbending so I can teach Ryu the advanced things and you can learn everything you need to know." Suyin said with a smile on her face. "Come on, dinner's waiting for us," Suyin said as she led them inside.

Dinner was great, roasted chicken and beef, with a side of rice and kale. It was when Ryu was finished that he realized this was the longest he went without spending or conserving money. He thought about it as he walked to the guest house that was set up for the trio. It had three rooms and each room had a bathroom attached. They had a living room area with a television and a sofa. It was nowhere near the scale of the house in Ba Sing Se, but it was cozier and more modern. As Ryu settled down in his room and started unpacking his things, he thought about Omashu. How little and isolated it really was. That's how the people liked it. It wasn't meant to be as hectic as these glorious cities that Ryu had been seeing. That's why the Earth Nation sent the orphans there. As Ryu thought about his old home, he looked at the desk next to his bed. It had parchment and a pen. Ryu almost dropped his bags as he was putting it in the closet.

He forgot about his deal with Su.

Immediately he went to the desk and started writing about the stuff he did, the things he's seen, the people he's met, and what's in store. He got emotional thinking about how she must feel being in Omashu instead of coming with him like she should've been. _She should've been the one to travel the world with him while he masters the elements,_ Ryu thought. Of course, Yin was alright, but Syu was there from the beginning. He finished the letter and decided to find out how to send it tomorrow.

"GOOOD MOOORNING EARTHBENDERS!" Suyin's voice rang out in the guesthouse as she came in to wake up Ryu and Sara. She went into their individual rooms and woke them up to start their training. They got ready for the day. As they walked out of the house, Yin started laughing at them for having to wake up, and Ryu stuck his tongue out at him.

As they walked out of the house, Sara made a good point, "How come we have to get up early and he doesn't? He still has to master waterbending…" she said.

"Don't you worry about him, I have a surprise I think he'll like," Suyin said, "Or maybe you'll like it more," Sara turned to Yin and smiled, containing a laugh.

They went to an open area on the estate, a bit hilly area with a slight breeze that made the soft grass sway slightly.

"Very nice place to practice, really open," Sara said. "When teaching earthbending, open areas are the best," Suyin said to them. "So are you two ready?".

Ryu nodded, and she pulled out a blindfold from her pocket and put it around his head without saying anything. He started to panic at the sudden vision loss, Suyin settled him.

"Calm down, this is a technique," She said, "This won't just help you in earthbending but in every aspect of your training. The main point of earthbending is waiting and listening. My blind mother found this seismic sensing technique and only me and my sister Lin use it now. Earthbenders are allowed to sense the vibrations in the ground to such an extent they can see through the ground. This can help you see things that are hidden, or to determine your opponent's next move just before they make it. To learn this, you must become one with the ground, and listen."

Ryu didn't know at first what she meant by "become one with the ground", but then he remembered where he heard that phrase the most. Meditation class. He started doing the breathing exercises they did in meditation class and focused on the earth beneath his bare feet. He was soon able to faintly detect two objects near him, and they came into focus more to be two people, obviously Suyin and Sara.

"Is it working?" Sara asked, and Ryu responded.

"Yeah, I can see you through this," He said.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" She said without moving at all.

"Trick question, you haven't moved." He said smiling. She looked to Suyin in amazement.

"You learned that pretty quick!" Suyin said with a bit of a laugh. "Using that technique combined with combat will give you an edge in all battles."

After practice, Ryu decided to go into town by himself like he did in Omashu. Yin was fooling with the TV, and Sara was exhausted from the day. Ryu felt like a new earthbender, as Suyin taught him how to create earth walls, a more powerful fissure technique, and surrounding himself in earth in a form of armor. Ryu boarded the tram to go into the city and stayed quiet to not draw attention to himself.

He walked through the city and looked for things to do. Earthbenders seemed to dominate the city, but there are a few waterbenders, firebenders, and airbenders. As he passed the city's small temple, airbenders surrounded it, painting it and whistling. One man was meditating outside of the temple. As Ryu passed, he opened one eye in order to greet the spirit he felt come towards him but didn't see anything.

"Hey, kid!" He said to Ryu. Ryu stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"Was there a spirit around here just a second ago?" He asked. Ryu looked around for something he's only seen once or twice before.

"Uh...No, sir I-...I don't believe I did."

"Oh, ok. Have a nice day, it's beautiful out here." He said as he continued his meditation.

Ryu continued walking and found an interesting shop labeled "Coffee". He walked in and a strong smell hit him. He walked past the tables and saw a weird guy about his age tinkering with a box of wires with a concentrated look on his face. He walked right up to the counter and the cashier greeted him.

"Hi um...what is 'coffee'?" Ryu asked.

The cashier snorted, but then realized Ryu was serious. "Coffee...is...a new type of drink that is not only tasty but gives you energy."

Ryu thought about it and decided to try something new. "Ok, I'll have one." He said.

"Coming right up," She said.

After a minute, she handed a cup of coffee. Ryu stood around for a second, and someone said something.

"Were you serious about that?" Someone behind him asked.

He turned around to see the guy who was tinkering with the wires look up. He had a bit of a naturally raspy voice and blonde hair looking at him with a confused face. "Oh, yeah, I'm not from here so I don't really know much about this city," Ryu responded.

"Oh ok. You wanna sit down?" He asked.

"Sure" Ryu responded. "What are you working on?"

"A way to make the tram faster so we'd be able to expand the city more, the setup is at my house, but I wanted to get out and do all the wiring."

"Oh, sounds cool!" Ryu said as he connected the wires with a soldering iron.

For a few hours, they talked and told stories of things they did as they hit it off. Ryu had to lie to him and tell him that he and his parents were on vacation from Omashu, and was telling him stories that didn't involve him really being an orphan. The guy, named Kyuro, Ki for short, told him about how many accidents he's made while trying to make things.

"Wanna see all the things I've done?" Ki asked

"Yeah sure," Ryu said,

"I just gotta be back before the domes are put up"

"Oh alright," Ki responded, and they left for his house.

They went to a suburban sector close to the mountains where Ki lived. They walked to his house as cars whizzed past. When they got to his house they immediately went to the garage. Instead of using it for cars, Ki had all sorts of tools, foreign and familiar to Ryu. He turned on the lights and saw a major project Ki was working on. A scale model of the city, which looked a lot like the city from above that Ryu saw yesterday.

"This is amazing!" Ryu said, and Ki pulled a string beneath the table and all the cities became enclosed in the lotus petals, just as they do.

"Right here is my prototype for the tram," He said as he pointed to a piece of rail that looked a lot like the tram's track but on a smaller scale.

"For the demonstration, I have to heat up the track." He said as he struck a match and lit the track on fire.

"I'll go get the prototype vehicle. I'll be right back. If the fire gets too out of hand...run." He said chuckling at the last part as he ran into the house. The fire started to grow and get a little high. Ryu turned around for a second and turned back to see a flame twice as high and producing black smoke. He extended both hands and lowered them. The flame got under control and got smaller until it went out. Right after it went out, Ki walked out of the house with the prototype in his hands.

"Uh, the flame went out on the track," Ryu said as if nothing happened.

"Ah, don't worry about it," Ki said, "It happens sometimes."

Ryu was able to relax that Ki didn't see him firebending. Ki felt the track and winced in pain as it burned him.

"Ah!" He yelled while frantically waving his hand back and forth.

"It's hot enough now." He said as if he didn't show Ryu by burning himself. He placed the prototype on the track and aligned it. He pressed a button, and it started going around the track, accelerating until it was just a streaking image to the eye as it passed Ryu.

"Now, the tram would have to be a whole lot bigger to hold people obviously, but I think it would still be a lot faster than our current tram. It'll not only allow people to go around the city a lot faster, but it'd promote city expansion as well." He said. "Fascinating," Ryu said back, realizing that Ki must be some sort of genius.

Then he saw Ki extend his hand on the track as the car whizzed past to see what would happen out of curiosity, and it hit his hand at full force and flew off the track. Ki started jumping up and down and screaming. Maybe not a genius after all.

When the sun started to set, Ryu rushed to the tram and hopped on back to the estate. He got to the estate as Sara and Yin were heading to the house for dinner. "What'd you do?" Yin asked. "Just wandered around the city, had a fun time," Ryu said as he followed them.

For dinner was seared chicken, noodles, and grilled vegetables. They with Suyin ate as Ryu and Yin told stories about Omashu. They laughed and bonded and ate dessert.

The trio went back to their house and went to bed.

Ryu was woken up by Sara and they both got ready as they heard a scream from Yin. Ryu rushed in and got into a fighting stance as a man wearing complete blue was standing over him.

"Calm down, son," the man said, and he turned to see Ryu.

"It is my honor to be in the presence of the Avatar." He said as he bowed.

"I'll be training your friend here, as long as he can get out of bed on time!" The man said, putting emphasis on the end of the statement.

"Oh, erm, ok…" Ryu started. "We're a bit late so have fun!" They walked out of the house and into the practice area Suyin told them to go to yesterday.

Instead of a big open area with uneven ground, they were in a flat arena, made of solid earth. Ryu tested the seismic sense on it too, and he could "see" much better there than in the wild terrain. Suyin was setting up by moving pieces of what looked like unprocessed metallic rock.

"We're doing metalbending today?" Ryu asked.

"Very observant!" Suyin said to him.

"Yes, we'll be improving on your metalbending today."

"Well, I can't bend it really, I can only bend it a little bit," Ryu said in a shy tone.

"If you can bend it a little, I'll be able to teach you how to master it," She said, "might even become your go-to element!" She extended her hands and raised one into the air. One of the pieces of rock levitated into the air and right above her. She then moved her hand down fluently, like a waterbender, across her body. The rock no longer was a rock but looked more like a water as it followed her hand movements and part of it hit the ground.

"The most effective way of metalbending is not like Earthbending," Suyin said. "You must be light on your feet and flexible, a lot like airbenders." She put it back into a rock formation and put it on the ground. "Now, you try."

Ryu tried to move the rock, but all he did was put a small dent into it.

"What you're doing is using the metal as all one rock. That's not what metal is. The fragments of earth in the metal is what you're focusing on. Try the seismic sensing to see for yourself." Suyin said.

Ryu closed his eyes and sensed the rock. Instead of it being all one rock, there were individual pieces of rock all over it. When he tried bending it again, the metal moved off the ground.

"Now you got the hang of it," She said. Ryu was able to mold it into different shapes and do little tricks with it.

"Stop showing off, loser!" He heard a voice yell from the far side of the arena.

Yin was walking in, dragging his feet and rubbing his eyes.

"It's too early for this!" He said as his posture indicated his laziness.

"Better hurry off to training before you get in trouble," Sara said with a smirk.

"I'm too old and too...parentless to get in trouble!" Yin yelled as he left in a huff.

"...Parentless?" Sara questioned.

"If I tried to explain, you'd get even more confused," Ryu said as he continued to bend the metal.

Suyin called him a natural at metalbending, and he was advancing a lot in the art. He also learned more advanced moves like an earth wave that he can ride. Ryu headed back to the housing district that Ki lived in. He followed the same path Ki and he went on yesterday, and he found the house. He heard a slight buzzing sound coming from the garage and went towards it to see Ki welding some pieces of metal together. As a trick, he bent up the pieces of metal with ease. Ki looked at the pieces in awe that the bent up with no one visibly doing it.

"What'cha welding for?" Ryu asked.

"A new project, better hope I don't get _**bent**_ out of shape over this!" Ki responded holding up the piece of metal and laughing very hard at his own joke as Ryu stared in disappointment. Ki collected himself quickly and told him about the new project.

"I wanna try and produce free electricity to our house so we don't have to pay that bill anymore." He said as he got two new pieces of metal and started welding them.

Ryu spent the day with him again and they back and forth told stories to each other, funny stories like the time Ki got off from school for an entire week last year because of a leaking sprinkler that flooded the school that he broke through an accidental series of unfortunate events.

"Aren't you gonna miss school tomorrow? It's a Monday." Ki said with a questioning look on his face.

Ryu hesitated before speaking. He forgot what day it was after he left Omashu. "Oh, I'm on a school break, big holiday for Omashu." Ryu made up the story on the spot.

"Oh, what for?" Ki asked, digging more into a statement Ryu wished he would have disregarded.

"The...Lunar Days…" Ryu said, and he took at face value.

"Oh, ok." He said as he continued to do stuff around the garage.

Very quickly the sun was setting and Ryu was rushing back to the tram to get back to the estate on time. He got there at the last moment, as the tram shut down for the night. He realized he was tired, too tired to eat dinner with everyone. He requested his dinner to be brought to his room by the telephone in their house. As he was eating, Sara came in the doorway of his room, still in practice clothes.

"Have no time for us now, huh?" She said with a smirk on her face and her arms crossed.

"Well, no, I was just exploring the city again, nothing you can do in one day!" He said laughing nervously and took another bite of rice.

"Oh please, if there's anything I've learned over the past few days with you, it's that you don't do the same things consecutively." She said, trying to extract the truth out of him.

"What does that even mean?" Ryu said.

"It means I know you're not telling me everything. And you know that I know that you're not telling me everything. So, you might as well tell me since I already know." She said as she sat on the edge of his bed.

"Well, if you know, then why would I need to tell you?" He responded with a mouthful of beef.

"Just tell me! I wanna go tomorrow!" She said back.

"I'm not even sure if I'm going tomorrow! I'll decide after training!" He said back.

"Now I gotta go get ready for sleep, thanks" She walked out of his room as he walked into his bathroom to turn on the shower.

She saw Yin walk into his room and turn on the light. She followed and walked in as he was sitting down on the bed.

"Well, it's been a while since a girl's been in a room of mine," He said as he laid down and put his hands behind his head. "What brings you here?" He said with a bit of a smirk.

"Cute, but severely lacking in any attractive qualities." She said back to him as she closed the door.

"Ryu's hiding something. He said he's been going to 'explore the city' but I know he's doing more than that."

"Oh, leave him be, he's a free person, doesn't follow crowds. If you don't mind it, it won't mind you." He said to her.

"Isn't that what you did to him and he finally called you out on it?" She said in a snide tone.

"Yeah, that _**may**_ be true." He said.

"I say we follow him tomorrow, see what he's up to. What if he's trying to learn a new element? Or learning about past lives?" Sara said.

"Or he's doing what he said he's doing and you're blowing this way out of proportion." He said with a blank expression.

"Well, guess we'll find out tomorrow then," Sara responded.

"Well, there is a price for my services…" Yin said to her. "You're right, how about I don't punch you in the face for trying to make a move on me, ok?" She responded, and left the room.

The next day, after training, Sara tried to stick around Ryu for the day, until he made up an excuse for the bathroom. She left him in peace, and he hopped on the tram to the housing sector. Sara went straight to Yin who was training and got him to ditch for the day. Just as the tram took off, Yin and Sara hopped on top of it, so they could follow unnoticed.

Instead of downtown, the tram took them to the housing district.

Ryu got off of the tram, and they got off quietly to follow him. They stayed far behind as following so that he wouldn't realize he's being followed.

He led them straight to Ki's house, and he went around to the garage. They hid in a bush that had a good vantage point of where Ryu was headed. Ki was playing with a ball and saw Ryu.

"Had a feeling you'd be back today," Ki said as he threw the ball to him

"Don't you have homework or something?" Ryu asked him.

"No, schools here don't give homework after 11 years of age. Part of the "growth process"" Ki said back.

"Oh...Sounds nice." Ryu said with envy, only to remember he has a bit of a permanent excuse for homework now. He threw the ball back to him.

" _So, he found a new friend, huh? Guess we weren't good enough!"_ Yin whispered to Sara.

" _Keep it down or they'll catch us!"_ Sara whispered back.

" _So, we found what he does, what do we do now?"_ Yin asked.

"You should probably run, just a suggestion," Ryu said as he walked behind the bush they were hiding behind.

"Why did you- how did you follow me?!" Ryu asked them.

Sara started chuckling. "It was an accident?" She said with a smile on her face.

"Don't make it worse, she wanted to spy on you today," Yin responded.

They got out of the bush and Sara waved to Ki. He just stared at her.

"Besides, if we lose the Avatar, the blame gets put on Suyin and us," Sara said as she dusted herself off.

Ki looked at Sara and asked, "You're the Avatar?!"

"No…" Ryu said as he dropped his head. "I am."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ki asked.

"I don't know," Ryu responded.

"Don't feel bad, he didn't tell me either when I first met him," Sara said.

"I feel like such an idiot, I knew the Avatar was found and he was here but I never saw a picture or remembered the name…"Ki said, looking at the ground.

"Well, I guess...It's time for me to go." Ryu said as he darted from the house, Sara and Yin raced after him.

The entire way home, Ryu didn't speak to either of them. When they got to the estate, he went straight to their house, and his room. By no means was he mad at Sara and Yin, but mad at himself. He couldn't keep the secret and Ki found out. He wanted some normal friends and to be thought of as normal again. Normal was mundane, but sometimes mundane is needed.

Ryu skipped out on dinner and stayed in his room, keeping himself preoccupied with a stack of cards he brought with him from Omashu. As he finished a game of solitaire, he heard a knocking at the window of his room. He looked slowly to see a face he thought he'd never see: Ki's. He opened the window and Ki hopped in, but not without hitting his head on the window frame.

"How did you get in the complex?!" Ryu said to Ki as he rubbed his head.

"I took the tram right after you guys! I had to wait until it was dark until I could sneak past the guards, but other than that, it was easy!" Ki said as he looked around the room.

"So, this is where the Avatar sleeps," he said.

"Do your eyes glow when you go to sleep?" Ki asked.

"No- I don't think…" Ryu responded.

"Huh, something to tell my mom and dad then," He said.

"I thought I'd never talk to you again," Ryu said.

"Well, why did you lie?" Ki asked him.

"I guess I just wanted to be normal," Ryu said as he flopped on the bed face first. Ki sat next to him.

"But you're not normal. You're probably the least normal person in the world."

"Gee thanks, Ki,"

"Well, if you're not normal, and you know it, then why try to conform to normalness," Ki said with a blank face.

"It's _normality_ , idiot"

"Ohhhh," He said.

"So tell me who you are for real this time."

"Well, I'm an orphan from a town in the Earth Nation who was sent to Omashu at 8 who lived a pretty simple and routine life up until last week," Ryu explained to him.

"Oh I see, and how did you meet that girl, Sara?" He asked.

"She insisted she tag along with us from Ba Sing Se." He told him.

"Yeah!" the two heard from the other side of the door. Ryu bended the metal door hinges back so that the door would fall down and Sara would go down with it.

"You gotta stop spying," Ryu said chuckling, and they all laughed.

* * *

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the 14th chapter of the Chronicles of Ryu! Remember to Favorite, Subscribe, and review! Next up is the finale of the season...**


	15. Author's Note

**A/N: Hello Readers! I wanted to ask you guys this because I'm really just torn. I have the season finale planned out and a nice chunk of it written, but now I feel there wasn't enough buildup to it. So I have a question for you guys. Do you want me to have another chapter before the season finale or just get to the finale? Please leave reviews of your opinion, it'll help me A LOT!**

 **Thanks! :)**


	16. Chapter 15

**This is chapter 15 of Avatar: The Chronicles of Ryu. If you enjoyed, please follow, favorite, and comment, it helps me out a lot in writing future chapters!**

* * *

As Ryu and Sara finished up earthbending practice, Ki went to go watch Yin train waterbending. "We're going to the entertainment sector," Ryu said to Ki "Do you wanna come along?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," He said as he got up and followed Ryu and Sara.

"Hey! What about me?!" Yin yelled as he lost his concentration and the bubble of water he was manipulating fell into the grass.

"Maybe next time?" Sara said as they walked towards the tram.

"We're going to the entertainment sector," Ryu said to Ki "Do you wanna come along?" Ryu asked. "Yeah, sure," He said as he got up and followed Ryu and Sara. "Hey! What about me?!" Yin yelled as he lost his concentration and the bubble of water he was manipulating fell into the grass. "Maybe next time?" Sara said as they walked towards the tram.

"Yeah, sure," He said as he got up and followed Ryu and Sara.

"Hey! What about me?!" Yin yelled as he lost his concentration and the bubble of water he was manipulating fell into the grass.

"Maybe next time?" Sara said as they walked towards the tram.

They took the tram to the entertainment sector, which was full of teens their age so the blended right in. Any hype about the Avatar being in Zaofu calmed after two weeks. Sara led the way to the mover theater they were going to go to, having been there a few times and spending an uncomfortable amount of money on seeing them.

"This one's gonna be so fun!" Sara said on their way to the theater.

"You say that about them all, what's the difference?" Ryu said to her.

"Oh lighten up, they're all fun! Besides, it'll get your mind off of your... _predicament_." She said, hesitating before the last part.

"You make it sound like I have a disease!" Ryu yelled.

"Well, you have the opposite, it makes people want to _be around_ you." She said with a smile. She stopped in her tracks and looked down a clean alleyway. "This way is a shortcut," She said.

"Yeah, and?" Ki asked with a blank expression.

"We can use it to get to the theater quicker?" She said, confused on why Ki was confused.

"Oh, right." He said as they headed down the alley.

It was well lit and clean, with a few garbage cans being along the sides. They turned the corner if the alley, and there were three guys their age standing and talking.

" _Oh no,_ " Sara said as she tried walking past with her head low.

"Hey, Sara!" One of them called out.

" _How do they know you?_ " Ryu asked.

" _They mess with all the girls around here. It's annoying,_ " she said.

"What, Chen?" She asked in an exasperated tone.

"Going to the theater again, huh?" The guy asked.

"Perhaps," She said back in a snippy tone.

"Mind if I uh...tag along?" He asked in a sly tone and tried to grab her arm. She slapped it down.

"Yes, I do." She said with force.

"What a shame," He said. "Hot girl, ugly personality."

when he started to get closer to her, Ryu started to get into a fighting stance. When he got close enough, she manipulated a piece of metal off the side of the building across from them and used it to pin him to the wall. The other two started moving towards her, so she slammed her right foot into the ground, and two pillars of earth came up fast enough to knock them back and on the ground. They went running the other way down the alley. The guy pinned to the wall started laughing.

"They'll be back to help me, you're just showing fake force," He said half smiling. She kneeled down to his level.

"What a shame," She said. "Ugly guy, ugly personality." She said as she walked back to Ryu and Ki. "Let's go." She said, walking past them.

"That was amazing!" Ki said.

"Guess you're talented at earthbending too." Sara blushed and smiled towards the ground.

"Suyin would be proud of that," Ryu said. Then, Ryu felt a buzz in his pocket. He pulled out the little invention that she gave him that notifies him if he needs to go back to the estate. "Speaking of Suyin, we gotta go back to the estate, she just notified me." He said.

"Really? We're gonna miss the movie!" Sara said as she pointed to the theater. Ryu shrugged,

"Sorry," he said as they headed towards the tram.

When they got to the estate, they headed to the main house and the living room. Yin was sitting down, looking at what was on the table with guards around him too.

"What's wrong?" Ryu asked.

"Well, you should sit down for this one," Suyin said to him.

Ryu sat down and looked at Suyin with a concerning face.

"We got a letter in the mail, and it's concerning us and the city." She said as she picked it up with a pair of half-moon shaped reading glasses.

" _To whom it may concern_ ," She started, " _The White Lotus has moved the Avatar to what is presumed the safest city in the world. Well, it may have been that way in the past, but it certainly isn't now. We've gotten our way into the city without the detection of you or your city's police. We are shop owners, we're bank employees, we're citizens, we may even be guards. But you and the Avatar won't find out until it's too late._ "

She put down the letter and picked up what else was on the table. It was pictures of each of them around the estate, taken secretly.

"Oh my-" Ryu started, but he was cut off by one of the guards.

"I've already ordered the investigation of all the troops in my battalion." The guard said.

"Thank you, but it's going to restart all over again tomorrow," Suyin said. "I've requested that White Lotus guards come here immediately, they'll be here before the domes close tonight, and will be overseeing the Avatar's security and the investigation of the city."

"Any ideas of who did this?" Sara asked.

"No, but we have strong hunches that it's the Peratil Clan," Suyin said.

"The Peratil Clan?" Ryu asked.

"The Peratil Clan is a terrorist organization that's plagued the Earth Nation for a long time now, I can't tell you everything, but five years ago we had a particular problem with them in Zaofu," Suyin said.

"That's the reason we had Earth Nation military here for a few months?" Ki asked.

"Exactly the reason," Suyin said, "They've been trying to establish their own nation and instead of trying through the normal way, they're trying to take over their own city. You've encountered them in a way, the Gooseneck Triad is a branch of theirs in Republic City." She said as she stood up. "I'll start working on defending the city, you guys stay here in the main house for the day." She left the room and left them up to their own devices.

* * *

"I'm bored," Yin said as they spent the next hour in the same room Suyin left them in. He stood up. "This is a big house, let's go exploring." Yin left the room and Ryu chased after him.

"Yin! I'm pretty sure Suyin doesn't want us snooping!" He yelled in the hallway.

"Then why didn't she tell us to stay in the room?" He said shrugging his shoulders and walking the other way.

Ryu went back into the living room and got the others to help him, and they followed him to where Ryu left Yin, and he was nowhere to be found.

"Split up and find him," Ryu said, "If Suyin finds him she may just kick him out." They went in different directions.

Ryu walked down a long corridor with the occasional door. He peaked into the room, and when he saw no one, he closed it back. Ryu tried using seismic sense, but he could barely see through the walls. As he was walking, he started to hear footsteps. They came so close that they started to come down the same hallway he was in. Ryu darted towards one of the windows and threw the curtain in front of him so that he wouldn't be seen. The person walked past and he saw her blonde hair and instantly knew it was Sara.

"Oh, it's just you," Ryu said as he peeked from behind the curtain.

But he caught her so off guard, she emitted a high-pitched scream. Ryu acted quickly and put a hand over her mouth.

"Just me, it's alright." He said.

When he removed his hand, she hit him on the arm. "Why'd you scare me like that?!" She said.

"How was I supposed to tell you? By following you and sneaking up on you?" He said.

"Yeah, at least then I could get the gratification of punching you in the face!" They started walking together down the hall, looking into rooms.

They were peeking into rooms when one caught their interest. A room that led into a study with bookshelves filled with books on the sides, and a desk with a chair and a lamp in the middle.

"Wanna look?" Sara asked. Without saying anything, Ryu went in.

Sara started looking at books as Ryu messed around with the chair, spinning around. She walked back with a book in hand. "Wow, 10,000 years of knowledge and you're spinning around like a goofball in a chair. Fascinating," She said with a smile.

"Still a teen," He said with a smirk, "What'd you find?"

"Something you'll like," She said, "These are the records of Aang." Ryu got wide-eyed at the big book. He opened it, and it immediately started stories.

For what felt like hours, Ryu and Sara read stories of Aang and his friends from how they saved a town from big things like saving the Northern Water Tribe from the Old Fire Nation's invasion attempt to smaller things like saving a town from a meteorite. "These stories are amazing," Ryu said.

"Do you ever think we'll have this many stories as they did?" Sara asked.

"I don't think so, the world is a lot more civilized than at that time." She took the book and put it back on the shelf as Ryu started messing with the chair again. She walked over to him and stopped the chair as the seat turned to her with both hands on the armrests. Ryu looked up, chuckling a bit and looked Sara in the eyes as she did the same to him.

"Hey!" Ki's voice echoed into the room.

They both looked toward the door. "I found him," He said as he walked down the hallway, and the two followed.

Ki led them to where he was, which was a room filled with polished file cabinets fit into a wall. Yin was sitting on the floor sifting through papers.

"What are you doing?!" Ryu asked, surprised that he made such a mess.

Yin said nothing and continued sifting through the papers as if he didn't hear a thing.

"Yin!" Ryu said almost to the point of yelling, but Yin continued sifting through what looked like pictures.

Sara tapped Ryu on the shoulder and pointed to the opened and disheveled file cabinet. Ryu instantly realized why he wasn't talking. On the file cabinet in fancy platinum symbols said " _The City of Wheng_ ". All of a sudden, Yin stopped rustling papers and stared at a picture in amazement and shock. Ryu walked behind him to see the picture. There were four people in the picture, two adults, one teenager, and a younger kid.

"Yin, who is that?" Ryu asked.

After a long pause, he spoke. "It's my family." He said with a lump in his throat.

Sara and Ki walked behind him to see the picture. "In Wheng, they took pictures of all the families," Yin said.

"I don't know what it's doing here, but they have copies of all the pictures," Yin said as he was fixated on the picture. Ryu stood up and looked at the cabinets. He walked over to the 'G' section. After a few seconds of looking, he found a cabinet labeled "

Ryu stood up and looked at the cabinets. He walked over to the 'G' section. After a few seconds of looking, he found a cabinet labeled " _Gaoling_ ". He opened it to see it full. He started to look for pictures, but then remembered Gaoling didn't do anything like that. He closed it back. "We should probably go back before dinner, we've been at this for a while," Sara said. "Well,

"We should probably go back before dinner, we've been at this for a while," Sara said.

"Well, _I've_ been at this for a while," Ki said, "You and Ryu were in that room-" Ki was cut off by Ryu.

"Sara's right, let's go!" He said as Yin started putting things back into the cabinet, all except the picture.

"Uh, Yin you should probably put that picture back too," Sara said.

Yin half smiled and chuckled. "No way," He said walking out of the room. Sara shook her head and followed.

They stayed in the same room for a while after, the sun started to set. Suyin came in and got them.

"The airship is 5 minutes away, come so we can greet them," She said as they left the room.

The group got up and walked out of the room. They followed Suyin to the small private airship dock in the back of the estate, as they found a dot in the sky that became clearer as it propelled itself came down to the landing pad and turned to the side for the wider exit. As it landed, metalbenders attached cables to the airship so that it wouldn't move freely. The ship docked, and the door opened to people in the same uniforms that Ryu saw when he left Omashu. They got off and Suyin shook their hands. They were immediately taken by a few of the estate guards to their new assignment. Then, an old lady came off the ship last, and Ryu knew who it was. The old lady walked up to Suyin, and they bowed to each other.

"Master Meng, I wasn't expecting you to come with them," Suyin said.

"I won't be long, I'll be leaving in the morning. It's been a while since I've visited Zaofu and what better time to visit when the Avatar is in town?" Meng said.

She walked over to Ryu and they bowed to each other.

"Master Meng, it's a pleasure to see you." He said.

"The pleasure is all mine," Meng said. "It's already been three weeks since you left Omashu, tell me, what have you learned in earthbending?"

"Well, I've been learning master earthbending techniques and metalbending," Ryu said as they started walking to the main house.

"Excellent, Suyin, how long do you expect for him to have mastered earthbending?"

"A matter of weeks now,"

"Perfect, ahead of schedule now, is dinner ready?" Meng asked.

"Yes, we're on our way to eat now," Suyin said as the domes started to close. They went inside to eat dinner.

"If Omashu had let us test you guys as you came in the city, it would've made my job a whole lot easier," Meng said as she ate rice. "We were going to start searching other cities this month, so you saved us a lot of time and money revealing yourself when you did,"

"Master, after I finish my earthbending here, where do I go?" Ryu asked, which got everyone at the table to stop eating and look up.

Meng looked around to see everyone's curiosity showing. "You'll be heading to the City of New Tsai Dun, the capital of the Fire Nation, where you'll learn firebending." She said a Suyin took on a surprised face.

"New Tsai Dun? That's bigger than Republic City! How will you protect him?!" She asked.

"We'll figure out a way, maybe he and his friends can stay in the palace," Meng said with a calm tone while Suyin was concerned.

"If we're worried about the Peratil Clan here, it'll be much worse in New Tsai!" She said with a respectful but still concerned tone.

"We'll figure it out," Meng said.

As they went into their house, Ki realized he was trapped in for the night. Again.

"Can I just stay with you guys?" He asked.

"How are you gonna go to school tomorrow?" Ryu asked.

"I'll figure a way," He answered. When they got to their house, White Lotus Sentries were guarding all around it. They walked in and Ryu showed Ki to a guest room and went to his own. He was laying down, looking at his necklace from Ba Sing Se when Sara came in.

"I was hoping we got to see that movie." She said while leaning on the door frame.

"Yeah, you were pretty unhappy about it," He said looking at the necklace. She came and sat in the seat next to his bed.

"Y'know," She said, "I'd still be in Ba Sing Se if it weren't for that necklace." She said.

Ryu sat up, crossed his legs, and looked at her with curiosity.

"When you went to go take that shower, you left it on the bed. I went to see it and found that print. I guess you could say that necklace saved me." She said chuckling.

Ryu sighed in amusement as he thought back to when she woke him up in Ba Sing Se. She sat on his bed and sat criss-cross like him and looked at him.

"What?" He asked.

"Just wanted to get a good look at the Avatar, It's been so hectic for a while, now everything's calming down, we've never really had a true conversation, just you and me." She said.

"I never really was one to have conversations like that," Ryu said, "I lived a more solitary life in Omashu,"

"You established that and it's not like I lived much differently, the kids in Ba Sing Se that I liked hated me and who I hated liked me for some reason." She said as Ryu got up to get a metallic rock off of one of the shelves and bring it to the bed. He started a game common played by metalbenders in Zaofu, and in the metal, made a tiny flying bison. Sara took the remainder of the rock and formed an eelhound. The two animals started fighting, being manipulated by them.

"So how does it feel to be the Avatar?" Sara asked.

"Stranger than you want it to be, I don't think my past lives felt this way."

"I'm sure they did." Sara's eelhound won the battle, and Ryu turned his bison into a dragon.

"How come you didn't stay in Ba Sing Se? You would've inherited a large fortune and could've done whatever you wanted."

"No, that's not it, I don't want a fortune, I don't want to have a fancy life. I wanna go exploring, not staying in one area of one city for a lifetime." She said as his dragon started to breathe fire.

"That's not how the game works," She said with a disapproving yet comical look.

"How do you know?"

"Because it's an earthbender's game, not an Avatar's," She said,

"What do you think your parents are doing right now?" He asked

"Oh, I don't know, maybe still grieving, or maybe trying to find me. Here's a better question: what do _**you**_ think _**your**_ parents are doing right now? They definitely know their son is the Avatar." She asked.

Ryu snorted in response. "I'm not even sure they're alive anymore." He said with half a grin.

"Have you ever wondered what they look like? What they do?"

"Yes, all the time. It used to eat at me until I was 14 and realized I wouldn't find out what the answer truly is, I became desensitized." He said as the dragon won the battle.

"Did you have any parental figures in Omashu?" She asked.

"Not really, the teachers were the closest thing, pretty much had to figure everything else out like saving money, fixing things around my apartment, and how to form relationships of any kind," Ryu said as he thought back to that time.

"Were you able to form any intimate relationships with the opposite sex?" Sara asked a bit slowly, trying to beat around the bush tactically.

Ryu laughed a bit. "If that's your way of asking if I had a girlfriend, no, I did not," Ryu said chuckling throughout saying it.

Sara grinned and blushed. "So were you really top earthbender in Omashu? Or was that a coverup entirely?" She said, quitting the game.

"No, I was really good at earthbending, and I absorbed the lessons better than anyone else could. I beat the others out in my class and was able to fight the top in other elements as well, pretty fun, but if Yin didn't get hurt by Lee Tin none of this would've happened," He said.

"Wait, what?" She asked, a bit confused.

"Yin decided to face Lee Tin, got hurt, Lee Tin taunted me, I beat him, he wanted a rematch the next day, and I beat him with the firebending I discovered on accident mid-fight," Ryu said as if the entire story made sense and was easy to comprehend. Sara looked at him with a confused face.

"That's a terrible summary." She said with a bit of disgust on her face. Ryu laughed as a smile crept along her face.

They continued to talk about little things and deeper things until Sara got tired and decided to go to bed. Ryu did the same.

* * *

They woke up, got Ki out early so he could go back and change for school, and headed to training as Yin slept in, much to his teacher's disliking. The training consisted more advanced moves for Ryu, some intermediate for Sara, and metalbending for both. After, they decided to wait for Yin to finish practicing so they could go to the entertainment sector and find something to do. Just as they were about to leave, they were stopped by Suyin and a couple of guards.

"You three might wanna see this," She said as she beckoned for them to follow her back to the house.

They went to the house but went down into the basement, where the guards operated from. Suyin led them down a hall that had many doors but was only one of them was guarded. She led them into the room with one man, handcuffed to the seat, with guards inside the room as well. The man was disheveled, dirt on his clothes, his hair a mess, a stench was in the room that was presumably from him, as he looked as if he hadn't showered for days. He had a large scar on the right side of his face, which made Ryu instantly realize that _he_ was the one who gave him that scar.

It was the man from Republic City he fought.

Ryu realized he was never caught from the incident that they got in in Republic City. Suyin spoke up after a minute of silence and Ryu trying to get a good look at him without the man looking.

"Lin said you'd recognize him, do you?" She asked.

"Yes," Ryu responded in a quieter tone than he usually spoke in. Suyin sat in the seat across from the man and immediately started speaking.

"How did you get in here?" She asked calmly.

He chuckled and responded slyly, "What does it matter? I got in here." He said with a smirk.

One of the guards extended their arm sharply and two metal sheets went flying from their gear to the man's arms, which pinned him against the wall with the chair. The guard sent another sheet that pinned his head against the wall, and a few smaller, sharper sheets that the formed into knives that hovered into place in front of his face. The man was terrified but tried his hardest to keep a calm composure.

"Must I ask again?" Suyin asked in a slightly less calm tone.

"I was a stowaway on the airship here when you all arrived, I've been staying in the estate ever since," he said. He then started laughing again. "It doesn't matter what I tell you, the damage has been done. I've been meeting with conspirators from the Peratil clan in the city. You can send in as many White Lotus guards as you want, this city is unsafe."

"How so?" She asked in a testy tone. He just looked out of the window and smiled sickeningly.

* * *

Instead of going to the city, they stayed on the estate. Ki came over and joined them, trying to work on his wires again. Ryu was practicing the advanced moves he was learning, showing Sara how to do some as well.

"Why bend elements when you can invent stuff?" Ki asked as he messed with the wires.

"Because I can do this," Ryu said, and bended the metal in the wires towards him, and manipulated it into a lasso. Ryu started chasing Yin with it, who instantly started running as they laughed.

While Ryu, Yin, and Sara ate dinner, it was sort of quiet as they listened to the radio, a pro-bending game was on. Yin was on the edge of his seat the entire time, barely touching his food as he was far too busy listening. Ryu was eating, quietly talking to Sara about why Yin loved pro-bending so much, and how he would constantly be falling asleep in class because his late night listening. Suyin listened to it while eating, showing excitement when the Zaofu team would do well. Occasionally Suyin would ask him a question about pro-bending, and Yin would give short answers, no matter how incomprehensible it was, so that he could get back to listening to the match. As Sara and Ryu finished, Sara wanted to go back to the house, telling Ryu to tag along. At that moment, the radio cut out and had a static for a few seconds. After the static, it was quiet for an eerily long time. The entire room was silent and still, as if it became a picture. Then, a voice came over the radio, breaking the silence.

"Hello citizens of Zaofu!" the voice said in a sinister but excited voice.

"You don't know me, but I know you. I know you have a...special guest in the city." He said.

Ryu was paralyzed with fear. He couldn't even move his eyes from the radio as if he could see the person talking through it. Suyin stood up and darted out of the room without even bothering to close the doors behind her. "This special guest has gotten you in trouble in more ways you could imagine now," The voice said after a pause of silence. "This isn't a ransom notice or a witch hunt order, but it is a warning. The Clan will rise, and this time, they will win." The voice said as it cut off into static again and back to the pro-bending match, without skipping a beat. The voice was only heard in Zaofu, as the match in Republic City didn't even stop. Yin had completely stopped listening to the match and just looked at Ryu. The room was still silent except for the match that continued in the background, so enthusiastically that it made the situation eery. Suyin ran back into the room with a smile on her face that was completely inappropriate for the moment.

"We got a recording of the voice!" She said enthusiastically. "This helps us tremendously, we can find who this person is and hopefully we can find these people and arrest them." She said.

She then realized the tension of the room and the shocked look on Ryu's face. She put her hand on Ryu's shoulder and reassured him. "This isn't your fault, and nothing will happen." She said with a confident tone. "I think you all should get some sleep, tomorrow's gonna be a good day." She said.

The group walked back to the house, Ryu not talking the walk back, slightly lagging back. " _I'm putting this city in danger."_ He thought over and over again as they walked into the house and he walked to his room. He sat on the bed and thought about the city, the people he saw, and the people he met, like Ki. He knew they were innocent, and shouldn't be put in the line of fire because of him.

Yin was in the living room, watching television, as Ryu walked up front with his bags. "What kind of training exercise is this?" He asked with a smirk on his face.

"I have to leave the city," Ryu said.

"You're kidding, right?" Yin said.

"Everyone's in danger because of me!" Ryu yelled.

"It's not your fault like Suyin said!"

"It being not my fault doesn't matter!"

"What's with the yelling?" Sara said as she walked into the room. "The hell do you have those bags out for?" She said as she stood next to Yin with her arms crossed.

"He wants to leave the city." He said to her.

"Are you crazy?" She asked.

"Look, the only way this city can be saved is if I leave. It's for the best."

"You need to learn the four elements, not just skip town like this!" Sara said.

"Besides, how are you gonna leave? There are guards all around the estate and a platinum dome!" Yin yelled.

"I'll manage," Ryu said as he walked over to the door. Sara looked to Yin, and Yin looked back. Sara manipulated a piece of metal from the room and hit him over the head with it as hard as possible. He was knocked unconscious.

"I thought you would just blindfold him! Not knock him out!" Yin said with a wide-eyed expression.

"Sorry! It's what I could think of." She responded. Yin picked him up while Sara held his feet.

"C'mon Avatar, time for bed," Yin said.

Ryu remembered everything going black, and being taken to a white area. Mountains were in the background. The snow flew off the mountains in the most beautiful way, but he was far away from them to see up close. After a while of looking at the mountains, a figure appeared. The figure wore blue and walked over at a normal pace until they came completely into vision.

"Korra?" Ryu said, as the figure smiled, and came up to him.

"Hi again, Ryu," Korra said. "Walk with me,"

"What's going on is normal, you want to protect as many people as possible. I've always seen that in you." Korra said.

"Yeah, kinda hard to do now," Ryu said, looking down to the white ground.

"It's hard now, but you need to learn the elements to make it easier on yourself, that's why I did all this for you." She said. "People like your friend in the city won't be saved if you leave. They'll be saved because you learned the elements and learned how to bring balance to the world, something I wish I could've passed on to you." She said as she stopped. "Now's time for you to master earth and move to the next element, for the world's sake." She said as she turned to Ryu turned to her.

"How am I supposed to protect them while learning the elements?" Ryu asked.

"This won't be the answer you want to hear, but you know how. You've done it a thousand times in a thousand lifetimes. Now, you must do it once more." Korra responded with a smiling face.

* * *

 **I hoped you enjoyed Chapter 15! Please follow, favorite, and comment if you did! Thanks :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**This is The Chronicles of Ryu: Part 1 season finale! Please leave a like, comment for what you want to see in the next season, and follow! Thanks!**

* * *

Ryu opened the letter he got last night from Syu while Sara was training.

 _Dear Ryu,_

 _I was beginning to think you forgot about our agreement. Let's just say, for your sake, it's good you didn't._

 _After you left, life in Omashu came to a halt. Parades, festivals, holidays, moments of silence, we even got a week off of school because of you! I've been doing fine here, and have sort of become the popular kid around for knowing the Avatar before he was the Avatar. People I've never talked to ask me for stories about you and guys who've never said a word to me now want to start relationships with me and will do anything to get that. I haven't had to do homework for the past six weeks! I've also become a lot better at earthbending and can take out most of the people in our class. Although I know you've been learning how to subdue pretty much anyone, I'll still hurt you if you don't write back._

 _A new life has come over Omashu and almost everyone is happy. Everyone, except Lee Tin and his friends. They're spreading rumors that he almost killed you in your fight and that when you come back, he will finish what he started. He's started learning advanced firebending moves and even started learning how to manipulate lightning. His anger is fueling his skills, and he's extremely dangerous now. Some people think you were extremely brave to go against him. Others think you were extremely stupid. Don't worry, I, however, know it was a mix of both. Maybe a bit more stupidity than bravery! I have to go now, so good luck, don't die, and don't forget to write back._

 _Do Great,_

 _Syu_

"Ryu! Your turn!" Suyin said as Ryu started to stand up with his outfit, full of metal weapons that he could use now. From the other side of the gym, 6 skilled earthbenders stood up and stepped into the big ring in the middle of the arena.

"You guys know the rules if you step out of the ring, you're out," Suyin said as Ryu stood in the middle of the ring and the 6 earthbenders surrounded him.

They all got into fighting stances. For a few seconds, everything was still, but Ryu soon sensed the person directly behind him move their feet. As they kicked up a large rock, he turned around, split it in two, and sent it behind him, knocking the two that were standing there out of the ring. Soon everyone started attacking. Ryu deflected the attacks, jumping in the air, spinning, and ducking. When all four started sending attacks his way, he bended up four slabs of rock to avoid any attack from any angle. When he sensed the attacks stopped, he launched one of the slabs straight at one of the earthbenders, knocking them out of the ring. The other three started moving rapidly around the ring. Ryu extended both arms sharply, and two razor thin sheets of metal flew off of his suit and tied one of the earthbender's legs and arms together. Ryu extended the arm into the air, and they went flying out of the ring. At that moment, Ki walked into the arena, as he'd been doing for the past month every day after school. He saw Ryu fighting and was amazed the person he met just a while ago was such a talented earthbender and was proud to have him as a friend. Ryu sensed another earthbender running towards him from the side, so he made an earth wall to buy him some time. The earthbender busted through the wall but was running slower. Ryu stomped his foot, creating an earthquake and a fissure in the ground, which the earthbender fell into. Ryu got down on one knee and slammed his fist into the ground. The earth under the fissure rose fast starting from the start of the fissure to where the earthbender was stuck sending them flying out of the ring. The last earthbender in the ring with Ryu came from behind him, charging with a wooden rod. Ryu ducked at the swipe and extended his left arm. A sword extension deployed, and he started to swipe as well. The other earthbender swiped at Ryu's feet, and Ryu jumped into the air, over their head, and behind their back. He raised up a piece of earth that was shaped like a cube, and launched it into their back, forcing them out of the ring.

"Four minutes, new record," Sara said as she stopped the stopwatch.

"Well Ryu, you've improved so much in one month. You've mastered earthbending." She said as she walked to Ryu on the ring. "Let's get lunch." She said as they walked out of the arena.

They walked past Yin and his trainer as they were practicing trying to do water gimbals.

"Yin! Lunchtime!" Ryu yelled to him, and he followed them to the dining room.

For lunch was boiled mushrooms and vegetable wraps.

"So, now that I've finished earthbending, what now?" Ryu said as he finished his meal.

"They haven't told me much more than what you know already," Suyin said. "But I know you're going to learn firebending next In New Tsai." Ryu already knew that from when Master Meng visited.

At that moment, guards opened the door in a hurry and walked straight to Suyin. One whispered in her ear. Her demeanor turned from happy to serious.

"If you all would excuse me, there's been an explosion downtown and we have to go see what's the issue." She said as she stood up and wiped her face.

"Want us to come too?" Ryu said.

"It's unsafe, could be an attack, ma'am," said one of the guards.

"You all just stay put, it'll be fine." She said as they left the room in a hurry. They rushed to the tram and boarded for the city.

Ryu and the others walked out to look at the downtown area, and they saw what was what the expected. There was smoke coming from the downtown area, with a large fire at the start of it.

"Should we go and see? What if Suyin needs help?" Ryu said.

"I think we should stay put," Yin said as he looked at the fire.

"Oh out of all people, you wanna follow the rules for once?" Ryu asked.

"I mean, she went with those guards, and she told us to stay put. It just seems like a bad move to go out." Yin said with his eyes closed and folding his arms.

"C'mon, I'm sure everything's fine," Yin said as him and Ki started walking towards their house.

Ryu lowered his head and started walking towards the estate, but Sara grabbed his arm. He turned around and looked her in the eyes.

"I think we should go. It's not gonna go down well with Suyin, but if she's attacked, we won't be able to live with ourselves." Sara said. Ryu looked toward the tram, and back to Sara.

"Let's go then," He said as they took towards the tram. Ryu opened the door and let her in, and then boarded.

* * *

When they arrived downtown, people were scurrying away and the distant sound of a fire truck getting closer and closer until it passed them right up.

"Hop on my back!" Ryu yelled to Sara. "

What?" She asked back.

"Hurry!" He said back, and she did so. He bended a slab of earth up, and surfing on the road, following the fire truck.

When they arrived at the scene, the firefighters were immediately getting to work. They hopped out of the truck and started bending the water from hydrants to battle the fire. Police were on the scene as well, talking to Suyin.

Then, all hell broke loose

Figures emerged from the nearby buildings, alleys, and the rooftops onto the ground. They immediately started attacking. One of the figures, a firebender, shot a stream of fire at the police and Suyin. Ryu jumped over everyone, and got in the path of the fire, and blocked the attack, moving his arms in a circular motion to bend the fire. He then extended his arm sharply, and a metal cable shot out towards the man and wrapped around him. Ryu flung him into a metal gate by one of the shops and then used the metal gate to send him into the window across the street as hard as possible.

"Ryu! Why did you-" Suyin started.

"No time for questions!" Ryu said as he created a massive dust cloud that enveloped the entire street except for the firefighters. "Time to fight," Ryu said as he jumped into action and started sensing where the other assailants were. Sara and Suyin followed suit and were able to subdue the rest easily. When they took down the last one, Ryu cleared the street, and the figures, all wearing dark clothing, were all along the street, some groaning and others simply unconscious. Ryu went to the nearest conscious assailant, ripped off the black mask he was wearing, and grabbed him by the clothing.

"What are you doing here?" He yelled, "Who are you working for?!" The man merely laughed.

"All according to plan." He said, laughing to himself. Then, a shadow was cast on the street as the sound of motorized metal came over the entire city.

The platinum domes were coming up.

"What's going on, it's only the middle of the day?" Sara asked.

"Can we stop it?" Ryu asked as the domes started blocking light from entering the city. "No, once it starts there is no stopping it," Suyin said.

Quickly, the domes closed shut and the streetlights came on.

"Was it a malfunction?" Suyin asked the police as the firefighters started pointing hoses in wrong directions, looking at the dome.

"Probably," He said as he got back into his car. "I'll go check and make su-"

He was cut off by the city's loudspeakers as they turned on with a loud low-frequency beep that echoed against the platinum domes.

"Greetings, citizens of Zaofu!" the intercoms blared as anyone outside immediately ran to their homes. "We talked a bit a few weeks ago, over the radio, not completely sure if you remember. It doesn't matter if you don't, you'll all be apart of this. As you've failed to hand over the Avatar to us, we've decided to take you all hostage!" The eery voice said as if he was handing out a prize. "We've gained control of the city's infrastructure and put the domes up and halted the tram system. Your communication with the outside world has been cut off. Waiting for help to arrive like you did last time is futile." He paused for a few seconds as his last words reverberated off the domes and throughout the sector. Then the low hum of motorcycles could be heard all around them.

"Where's that coming from?" Suyin said as the firefighters finished putting out the fire. The noises sounded like it was coming closer and closer.

* * *

Yin and Ki waited in the living room of the guest house and Yin started messing with the water from the faucet.

"Where'd you think they went?" Ki asked.

"Probably somewhere on the estate to fool around with earthbending," Yin said as he was bending the water and freezing it.

"Don't you ever think...earth may be more powerful than water?" Ki asked in a hesitant tone as he slouched down on the couch.

Yin turned the water into small ice spears and sent them flying into the wall.

"WHAT?!" He said with a crazy look on his face.

"I mean, look at what Ryu can do, that must hurt more than water can," Ki said with a bored look on his face.

"He's the Avatar, all those fancy powerful moves are supposed to come easily to him. Wait till I master water, you'll be eating those words" He said as he turned the ice spikes back into the water and started playing with it again.

"What's the most powerful move you can do?" Ki asked.

"Now you're asking the important questions, bud," Yin said as he opened the front door. "Come and see." Yin walked out to the large pond by the guest house. Yin bended some of the water out of the pond and made a ring of water around himself. "Watch this," He said as the platinum dome started to come up and cast a shadow.

"That's not you is it?" Ki asked as he started staring up. Yin started to chuckle until the shadow was cast over him and he looked up to see the domes rising. He lost his focus and dropped all of the water as the domes closed up and the night lights came on.

"But it's daytime…" Yin said as he looked all around them. Guards immediately came from the main house. They looked up and saw it as well. They rushed over to them and ushered them into the house.

As soon as they got into the house, the guards locked the door and pulled out a walkie talkie.

"Guest House secure, we are requesting backup." One of the guards said into the radio.

"Where's the Avatar?" another guard said.

"Somewhere on the Estate, I think?" Yin said.

"Avatar is not in the guest house, search the Estate," The guard said into the radio.

The guards started to close window curtains as the backup knocked on the door in a unique pattern. The guards walked in and four members of the White Lotus walked in.

"Both of you should go get some things so we can head to the main house," one of the White Lotus members said. They both went to Yin's room.

While they were waiting, the faucet dripped, annoying the guards as it was the only sound in the house. It continued dripping continuously until it was a full stream. One of the guards went to go turn it off. As he reached for the faucet, it burst, sending the metal flying to him and hitting him in the head. He was knocked back a little bit as the faucet hit him and the water was blasting in his face. Other guards went to help him as the White Lotus guards looked at each other. When the guards got close together, One of them extended his hands and bended the water to the one who got hit and froze the water around his head. The other guards, confused, were easily subdued by the other members with other elements as the waterbender froze water around each of their heads. The waterbender then grabbed his walkie talkie and held the talk button.

"Take over." She said as she put it back.

* * *

" _They're coming towards this street!"_ Suyin whispered to everyone as the engines got a bit louder. " _They're coming on both sides, we need to hide now!"_ She said.

"We need to get back to headquarters so we can deal with this issue, Madam." said the police officers as they went into their cars and drove away without sirens.

" _Scale the buildings!"_ Ryu said, running to an alleyway between the building that caught on fire and the one next to it.

As the bikes came down the street, they came to the building on fire.

"He thought they would've taken more time to take out the fire and be confused," one of the bikers said to the others.

"Well, he was wrong. What now?" another one said.

One of them pulled out a walkie talkie. "Eelhound to lionturtle, are you there?" he said into it.

"Lionturtle here." The muffled voice said.

"The street's been vacated, everyone's gone."

"They couldn't have gone that far, search the area, we'll dispatch more help soon." The walkie talkie croaked.

Ryu stood still as they stayed in the darkness in the alley, leaning against the building three stories high hanging on by their metal cables. Suyin looked at him and Sara and nodded. She and Sara started to swing around the building, ripping it apart. Ryu leaped into the air and onto the next rooftop. Sara and Suyin ripped the building in half just as it caught the attention of the bikers. Ryu firmly planted his left foot on the ground and raised his right foot in the air along with his fists to the right. Ryu slammed his right foot down and shifted his fists down to the left. The separated part of the building went sliding down onto the bikers and into the street. It blocked the entire street and destroyed the shop front across from it. The bikers got trapped under along with some of the still unconscious attackers. Suyin and Sara landed on the ground as Ryu jumped from the rooftop and landed with a thud as instead of sticking the landing, he landed on his left leg too much. Suyin gave him a hand up and Sara crossed her arms as he got up and shook her head.

"You took down a building but couldn't stick that landing?" She said.

"Hey! That move was hard to master!" Ryu said as he dusted off his clothes.

"We need to move. Now." Suyin said in a serious tone.

"To where?" Sara asked.

"Follow me," she said as she launched herself to the top of another building. Ryu and Sara did the same.

The three hopped around from rooftop to rooftop until Suyin stopped on one. She pointed to the shop across the street, it was completely blacked out, unlike other buildings that had their lights on.

"Is anyone in there?" Ryu asked.

"We'll find out soon," She said as they climbed down the building to land quietly. Suyin walked up to the shop and knocked in a weird pattern. The door flew open as a man with a white apron rushed them in and closed and locked the door.

"I was wondering when you'd come madam, what's going on?" The man asked.

"It's definitely the Peratil Clan, but details are what I'm trying to find out. I need to get in contact with the estate," She said to him.

"Yes ma'am," He said to her, and the man bowed to Ryu and Ryu bowed back.

They walked to the back of the shop and Suyin opened a hatch that led to a basement. As they walked down, Ryu started asking questions.

"What is all of this?" He asked Suyin.

"When the Peratil Clan attacked five years ago, I realized the city had a very big weakness. If they really want to hurt us, then they could just cut off transportation. If they do that, they can separate the city by its sectors and take them down one at a time. That's why I had a secondary secret line made so that I could get around and see what's going on, and so can police so we can stabilize these other sectors." She said to them.

"I'm going to phone the estate, but you cannot say any of this exists in case it was compromised, ok?" Ryu and Sara nodded.

* * *

The Estate descended into anarchy. Guards and the remaining White Lotus battled the rogue White Lotus members, but they were slightly outnumbered. Battles took place outside, inside, everywhere. The guards tried to hide bystanders, but the better trained White Lotus took them hostage.

When the Rogue members took over the estate, they brought Ki and Yin into the main house. They put them on the floor of the living room and tied their arms together. Rogue members ran in as they were being tied up.

"We've searched the buildings, the Avatar is nowhere to be found." a woman said.

"What about the girl?" One of them asked.

The woman shook her head. "Search everywhere. They may have heard the skirmish and hid."

The leader said as he walked into the room. He knelt down and faced Yin. "We're going to ask you again, where is the Avatar?" He said in a sickeningly nice way.

"Let me see," Yin said, "He is with my golden flying bison back at our house. While you're over there, grab a dose of realism, I'm not an idiot." He said with a smirk.

The man struck him across the face. "Stupid child, you're tied up and at our mercy, why wouldn't we just kill you?" He said to Yin.

"Probably because you're gonna use us as bait?" Yin said.

Before anyone could respond, the radio started beeping, signaling a transmission.

"It's probably Beifong." The leader said. "You," he pointed to the head guard. "Speak to her. We're being kind in sparing your life, so make it sound pretty or else our kindness will start running short." He said to her.

Hesitantly, she nodded. He turned on the microphone and pointed it at her.

"Hello?" She said in her most confident voice.

"Frezia, it's good to hear your voice. What's going on at the estate?" Suyin asked.

"Everything's fine, ma'am." She was able to say as if everything were.

"Communications to the United Forces?" She asked.

"Yes, ma'am." The guard said.

"Where's Yin and Ki?" Ryu's voice said slightly in the background.

"They're in the guesthouse with guards." She said.

"Ok, thanks," Suyin said back as the line ended and it went completely silent in the room.

"The Avatar's with Beifong." The leader said.

* * *

"We can go back to the Estate now!" Ryu said as Suyin got up from the table.

"No," Suyin said as she started going upstairs.

"Why not?" Sara asked.

"It's been compromised," Suyin said to them.

"How do you know?" Sara asked.

"If they were fine, Frezia would've said ASAF after, meaning everyone is alive and there is no distress. She didn't." She said as she went back upstairs to the butcher.

"The Estate's been taken over, we won't be able to get in touch with the United Forces." She told him.

"Damn," he started, "Do you want me to try to get in touch with-" Suyin cut him off.

"It's best you two go upstairs and let us talk for a bit." She said.

Ryu and Sara went upstairs as Suyin and the butcher started talking again but quieter.

"Should I get in touch with the squadrons?" He asked her.

"They're probably long gone, besides, a vigilante group like them would probably start a civil war like they almost did last time," Suyin responded.

"Well, we're running out of options," He started, "We either try to take back the Estate and send a message to the United Forces, or we can wait for them to figure out our domes are closed during the day," He responded.

Sara found a bedroom upstairs and the two sat on the floor talking.

"This is really bad," Ryu said, "They're gonna siege the city and take it for themselves. They probably targeted this city because of me." He said as he frowned and looked towards the ground.

"Hey!" Sara snapped, "It's not your fault! You're here to master earthbending, and they're here to take the city over. Doesn't that make you a victim instead of one to blame? I mean not to say you're a victim, but in no way can you say this is your fault!" Sara said.

"What about Ki?" He said.

" _What about_ Ki?" She asked back.

"His parents don't know where he is. If he's hurt or worse, that'll be on my hands."

"He won't be hurt. He still has the guards and Yin. They'll protect each other." Sara said.

As she finished saying that, they both heard the sound of motorcycle engines come down the street. Ryu peeked out the window to see people getting off the bikes with flashlights knocking on the doors to everyone on the street. Ryu darted out of the room and Sara followed as they rushed down the stairs.

"Get in the basement!" The man said to them as he shooed them down there. He slammed the wooden hatch door down and hid.

"We need to get to the suburban sector," Suyin said as she bended the stone stairs up to the basement ceiling.

"There are more operatives there and we may be able to send a message to the United Forces." Suyin opened a door in the basement that led to a small subway car that could fit six people. Ryu and Sara rushed in as Suyin went in after them. Suyin went to a keypad and hit the button that said " _Suburban_ ". She hopped in and the subway lurched to life and glided along the track at a quick pace.

"Be ready to jump right off," Suyin told them as the subway picked up the pace.

When it completely slowed down to a halt, they got off and were greeted by two men guarding the door behind them. They saluted to Suyin and bowed to Ryu.

"When we saw the domes close, we tried reaching out to the Estate, no one picked up." one of them said.

"We were able to make contact, the Estate's been compromised." She said as they opened the door and led them in the basement.

"When we got the signal that the subway was coming, we thought it was compromised. That's why we're down here." He said.

"What's going on in this sector?" She asked.

"People are generally confused, standing outside looking at the dome. When the intercoms came on, bikers went all throughout the sector and are keeping an order now. When I asked who they were, they didn't respond. It's most definitely the Peratil Clan."

"I came to that conclusion as well, we need to get to the main operative's house." She said to him.

"The only safe way is to go through the neighborhood. We can give you some extra clothing to disguise yourselves." The other guard said.

They went upstairs and were greeted with a nice living room area, with a tv and sofas and a kitchen. Everything was normal except for the hatch in the kitchen area. One of the men walked to another room as Suyin talked to the other man.

When he came back, he had three capes in his hand.

"They're the same size," he said as he gave one to each of them.

He then pulled out a walkie talkie. "We're sending Mrs. Beifong and the Avatar over to you guys," the man said into it.

"Copy that," A woman's voice said over a bit of static. They put on their capes and left the house.

Suyin was in the front as Ryu and Sara followed right behind, Ryu using seismic sense to make sure no one snuck up on them. Suyin took them mostly on the sidewalk, but the numerous barricades of bikers would force them to sneak through yards when no one was looking. They walked for a while around the sector, stopping frequently so they didn't look suspicious, chatting with others with their hoods on, mostly Sara doing talking so no one would identify Suyin or Ryu.

They approached a street where barely anyone was outside, but a few bikers were still on the street. The three tried to look unsuspecting, but it wasn't enough. Two bikers rode their motorcycles towards them.

"What's your business on this street?" one of them asked.

"We're visiting grandparents, we haven't heard from them and they're probably scared," Sara said to them.

The man looked at them and said nothing for a moment. They could feel his eyes on them as he thought to himself.

"Likely story, go ahead." He said to them.

They continued walking. The bikers continued to look at them until their curiosity got the better of them. One of them used water from their water skin and bended the water in front of them. He then sharply brought it back, splashing them each in the face hard enough to knock the hoods back. They all turned around, faces soaking wet as they looked right at the bikers.

"It's the Avatar!" One of them yelled to the others. The two immediately revved up their motorcycles and accelerated towards them. Suyin raised her right fist in an L shape, making an earth wave. The bikers used it as a ramp and were launched into the air. Ryu extended both arms, bending two sheets of metal at their eyes, covering them and making them blind for the landing. They both collapsed and their bikes ended up on the ground. Ryu then used the metal cables to tie them up and fling them towards the other bikers. They hit them and knocked everything over. They ran and followed Suyin.

They followed Suyin to a house in a more affluent neighborhood, where she knocked normally and they pulled her and the other two in.

"We've been waiting for 3 hours for you!" The person who pulled them in said.

"We didn't want to draw suspicion," Suyin told her.

"Yeah we did a fantastic job with that," Ryu responded as he took off his hood still wet from the attack.

"Well, you guys are safe here," the woman said,

"This whole street is made up of former soldiers and secret agents to protect the city and become a makeshift compound to protect Mrs. Beifong."

"The Estate was compromised, we need to contact the United Forces," Suyin told the woman.

"We already sent the message, they have yet to respond." the woman said back.

* * *

Yin and Ki saw their opportunity to put their plan into action. Yin copied what happened in the guesthouse. The rogue White Lotus members left the kitchen door open right across the hall from them, and Yin built up the water pressure in the faucet so much that the faucet popped right off. It sprayed everywhere, which made the people in the room run to the kitchen to help out. Ki then stood up and ran out of the room, hunched over with Yin on his back. When they got to the door, Ki turned around and Yin kicked open the door. They ran out of the house followed by white lotus members trying to stop them. As they passed a small pond, Yin kicked as much water as possible across the path and froze it, freezing some of the rogue members together and slowing down others.

When they reached a sewer cover, Ki stopped and Yin kicked his foot up. Water erupted from the sewer, blasting the cover up and landing on the ground. Yin then manipulated the water into sharp ice and cut him and Ki free and the rope from around them. They both rushed into the sewer, and Ki covered the sewer back up into the hole.

"We are extremely lucky that your plan even got us out of the house," Yin said.

"Hey, I may not be able to bend any elements, but I still got a few tricks up my sleeve," Ki said as he shrugged and grinned.

They went on the opposite path of the flowing water. "What do you think the others are doing right now?" Ki asked him.

"Probably hiding," Yin said back.

"You really think so? Mrs. Beifong doesn't sound like one to hide." Ki responded. Yin just shrugged.

They walked going against the water until they reached another sewage cover. They knew they couldn't stay underground for long, there was too much evidence for them not to search the sewage system. They were going to use that to their advantage.

* * *

They sat in the backyard of the house as the neighbors snuck over the high wooden fence. Some brought stuff with them and some brought others with them. They greeted each other, and saluted to Suyin and bowed to Ryu. One of them was a kid who looked their age. He had skin just as light as Sara's with brown eyes. He had blue eyes and a slim body frame. His hair was dark brown with dyed blue in the back towards the end. He certainly didn't have the look for this operation. He walked over and saluted to Suyin while shaking Ryu's hand. One of the men who already greeted them spoke up.

"That's the Avatar, you bow to him!" He said sharply.

"That's...fine," Ryu said to the man assuringly but hesitantly.

He turned around to look at the guy. "I know who he is," He said with a smirk. "I'm Dragon," he said to Ryu.

"Is it a nickname?" Ryu asked.

"Is it a nickname if you don't know your real name?" He said back.

"Why do they call you Dragon?" Sara asked. He rolled his head a bit and cracked his neck. Then, he opened his mouth a bit and did a heavy breath out. Fire came out in a large stream and instead of being just orange, had little flecks of blue in the fire. "I can go larger, but due to the current circumstances, I don't think it would be the best idea," Dragon said with a bit of a laugh.

He rolled his head a bit and cracked his neck. Then, he opened his mouth a bit and did a heavy breath out. Fire came out in a large stream and instead of being just orange, had little flecks of blue in the fire. "I can go larger, but due to the current circumstances, I don't think it would be the best idea," Dragon said with a bit of a laugh.

"I can go larger, but due to the current circumstances, I don't think it would be the best idea," Dragon said with a bit of a laugh.

As they served dinner, a bit of soup for everyone, Ryu and Sara talked with Dragon. He was a prodigy firebender who was also an orphan. Instead of being sent to Omashu three years ago when he was found, they saw him as a valuable asset and gave him the opportunity to be in the military. He quickly rose the ranks in the Earth Nation Army until he arrived in Zaofu. He decided to stay and was placed in strategic operations for Zaofu.

"I know it's not as fancy as the food you've been having at the Estate or in Republic City," Dragon said about the soup.

"But it's fancier than what I'd eat in Omashu so it balances out," Ryu said as he finished his bowl off.

"What about you, missy? I heard you spent your whole life in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se, how's the commoner's food for ya?" He asked. It looked like she had a bit of trouble eating it, but was hungry nonetheless and kept eating.

"It's perfectly fine," She said to him, but he could read in her face that she was struggling to eat it.

When dinner was over, Suyin told everyone to go into the house. The living room was rather large and could fit everyone comfortably. Ryu sat towards the middle with Suyin and he Commander who just went by Commander Tusk. The Commander stood on the table and started talking. "The events that went down today is what we've feared for a long time now. The Peratil Clan has taken over all of the sectors and paralyzed our infrastructure. We're getting reports that they're being more strict than others in different sectors, such as no one is allowed outside in the city sector. Mrs. Beifong's Estate was compromised which seriously kneecaps communication. The police department has not contacted us back, which probably means they have been compromised as well. We've attempted to send an SOS signal to the United Forces from here but we're not sure if it even escaped the dome. We've gotten confirmation that they stormed the City Hall two hours ago, but there are reports that the basis of the entire operation is here." He said as he picked up a map and showed everyone a circled spot on the map. "It's one of the skyscrapers in the city. The entire street has been evacuated and there are many bikers, and that building is heavily guarded. For all intents and purposes, the city has fallen." He said before taking a seat.

"How could this happen? We've taken so many steps to make sure this city is as safe as possible…" one of the men from the back said.

"They got on the inside. They put people in almost every aspect of our society but just enough so that we couldn't notice until it was too late." Tusk said.

"So what's our mission now?" A woman near the front asked.

"Until we can make an actual plan, our mission is to protect Mrs. Beifong and the Avatar. Those are our best hopes for right now until we can formulate a plan. If our message didn't send, the United Forces will eventually notice this and deploy, that is if the Peratil Clan isn't parading around across the world about how they've done this, which would result in liberation sooner rather than later. But as of now, this is all we have, and we must make what we can of it." He said as silence fell over the room.

"And over there are our workout facilities," Dragon said as he pointed to a double door area with glass doors. He was giving them a tour of the neighborhood's underground operations center, which leads to every house and was communal for everyone on the street. They had two men flanking them as he led the tour, to make sure Ryu was safe. When Dragon opened the door to the training, he told the guards they could stay outside. They shook their heads at the idea.

"C'mon, prodigy firebender and a prodigy earthbender, I think we can fend them off long enough to escape." Dragon said as he put an arm around Ryu.

"Fine," One of them said, and they flanked the doors to the training facility as Dragon held the door open for Ryu and Sara.

They were greeted by a front desk area that was vacated. They then went through another door that was against the wall behind the desk, and it opened to a big open training area. There are water skins on the wall and metal suits for the metalbenders. The entire floor was the solid earth that could be used for earthbenders. The ceilings were so high, neither Ryu or Sara thought they went this far down with the stairs.

"If this place is this big, why didn't they connect that subway system directly to here instead of making us walk through the whole sector?" Sara asked.

"If the subway were compromised, then it would be a matter of hours for this whole compound to be too, the city would be screwed." He said back.

As he said it, he pressed a button, and four large archer targets raised from out of the ground. He stepped up and took a ready stance, and made two rings of fire, each horizontally around him starting from his right above his head down to his left towards his feet and vice versa for the other ring. Sara stared in amazement as the fire was different to what she'd seen before with the blue flecks that could be seen all throughout the flames. He looked at the target and concentrated. He then extended his arm quickly and his hand upwards into a stopping motion. The fire rings followed his hand motion and jetted out. They circled each other in a fast motion until it hit the target. When it hit, the target exploded in a ball of fire with blue flecks all throughout it that soon just turned into a regular orange flame. He turned around and looked back at them.

"How about you show off a little bit, Avatar?" He said with a charming with the smallest hint of mockery that Ryu didn't really mind.

Instead of focusing on targets, Ryu just had them back up a bit. Ryu then slammed his fist into the ground, kneeling down as he did it, and put as much force as he could behind the strike. The ground shook violently, and pillars emerged from the ground almost as tall as the ceiling. As they rose, the fell, and another row of pillars emerged directly behind them with the path going towards the wall. Sara was able to keep her feet on the ground with earthbending, but the violent tremors made Dragon fall over. The targets were crushed by the pillars, the ground was completely uneven, and dust soon covered the room. Ryu restored the floor back to normal, while Dragon stared in amazement.

"I-I...wasn't expecting that!" He said as he laid on the floor with his arms propping him up so he could look at Ryu.

Ryu shrugged his shoulders. "Hey man, you told me to show off," Ryu said with a smile. Dragon got up and went over to the other three targets that were in bits. He picked up a piece and looked at it in sheer amazement. Just then, the two men guarding the door came in.

"You're a bit late don't you think? Don't worry we were just messing-" Dragon got cut off by one of them, "There's an issue on the surface. We need to go up there now." He looked up from the piece he was holding and threw it back on the ground.

"Let's go," He said as he walked towards them, tying his hair up in a ponytail with an elastic wristband he had on.

"We can help!" Sara yelled

"No, you all stay down here where it's safe. We'll come and get you when it's clear." He said.

"Seriously, stay put," Dragon said as they left the room and closed the door behind them.

"They didn't get the memo that we don't stay put, did they?" Sara said. Ryu held out a fist, and Sara's fist bumped it.

* * *

The man looked at the screens of the feeds of the video cameras around City Hall. They were still underdeveloped technology but were useful to see if anyone was planning anything. A woman busted into the room abruptly the door.

"What did I tell you about that?" The man said to her in a calm but firm manner.

"I'm sorry sir, but the Avatar and Suyin Beifong have been spotted in the suburban sector." She said.

The man turned so that she could see his pale face and gray eyes. "They were here earlier today," He said to her.

"We're getting reports that they were disguised. When they were revealed, they attacked and ran off. Last we've heard they're requesting backup and tracking their steps." She said to the man.

He walked over to the table with the television sets that displayed the camera footage. He placed both hands on the table. "Is there a possible way they walked on the tram lines?" He asked her.

"I mean I guess, there was no pre planning for that-" She said as she cut him off.

"Make it no longer a possibility for them," he said.

"But we're spread way too thin as it is sir," She said, but he looked right at her in the eyes.

She could feel the intense glare that he didn't care about that. "On it, sir." She said as she left the room and closed the door behind her.

* * *

Yin and Ki snuck around the Estate until they were in the backyard of the main house inside the shed with all the tools. Yin looked around the shed as it had almost every tool he could think of. He then looked Ki, who was in heaven with all the tools. He couldn't stop looking around with a wide smile on his face. Even tools he'd never seen were there and the material to make anything at his fingertips.

"Hey I don't wanna ruin your fun, but we're kind of really desperate right now!" Yin said.

"Oh, sorry. Do you have any ideas what we should do?" Yin asked.

"I don't know, I mean they outnumber us and the others on our side are still hostage, there's not much we can do. Maybe we can go underground and find the rest of the guards? But the White Lotus is probably guarding them... " Yin kept talking, but Ki tuned out. He looked outside at the small lake outside the window and a couple of trees around it. He saw the leaves fall every so often.

Then, he thought of it.

"I got it!" Yin said as he started fumbling around and grabbing things.

"What is it?" Yin asked.

"I'll tell you in a second, but we'll only have one shot," Ki said.

* * *

Ryu and Sara looked outside the window of one of the houses, which was empty, to see a full-on battle going on. Water was all over the place, the road had become uneven, and firebender's flames illuminated the street. They looked and saw a flame with blue flecks in it. Dragon had four people fighting him, but he was managing. The bikers outnumbered the others, but the others were masters in their elements, able to fend them off, just barely. He was dodging attacks while delivering big blows, giving all four of his opponents a real challenge. He was doing great until a fifth person joined in and struck him in the back. He hit a pressure point, making Dragon collapse to the ground. Ryu Darted towards The door and flung it open. He ran out onto the porch and leaped into the air. Sara followed him onto the porch and watched. When Ryu landed, the solid earth under him gave way. It created a thick dust cloud around the area. The earth under him then emerged from under and out of the dust cloud in the form of a wave. The wave went down the street at a fast pace, catching everyone off guard. The bikers couldn't move out of the way in time as Ryu approached the scene and dismounted. The wave still moved as Ryu jumped off, going into the direction of the bikers. It hit them, and they went flying everywhere. The attack was devastating to the street and knocked parts of some houses off before it stopped. As soon as Ryu landed on the ground, He metalbended sheets of metal to the attackers. Before they could retaliate, Ryu had metal sheets around their eyes, arms, and legs. He raised his left hand in the air. They all raised up into the air and stayed there, fighting to get down.

"What part of 'stay put' stumped you?" Dragon said with a struggle.

"What part of 'I'm the Avatar' stumped _you_?" Ryu responded.

More bikers came down a section of the street. Dragon threw a couple of punches towards them, and fire emerged from his strikes. Ryu extended his hand out behind him, and the loose pieces of earth came out from the ground and attached to his arm and hand. He balled it up to a fist, and he made an earth gauntlet on his right arm. He ran towards the bikers as the fights all around them raged on. As the fire hit them and disrupted them, Ryu got to them and knocked them off the motorcycle before jumping to the next one. He took all but two down, but couldn't get both of them due to them going at the same speed. When he took down one of them, he threw a punch towards the last one. The gauntlet flew off his arm and went flying towards him. It hit him in the back and knocked him over the front of the bike.

When Ryu got back to Dragon, the other fights were also over, and the others were running to the houses, and Dragon grabbed Ryu by the arm and started running. He brought him over to the house they originally started in and closed the door behind them. Suyin was inside.

"What were you thinking!" Suyin yelled, "You could've gotten kidnapped or even killed!"

"I don't care, I want to fight!" Ryu responded,

"You've only mastered one element, you can't go doing that." Dragon said as he leaned against a wall with his arms folded.

"That's not my concern. I'm here, there's trouble, and I'm going to help." Dragon unfolded his arms and walked away.

"I can't even be mad...god-you're so much like Korra." She said as she grinned to herself.

* * *

For the plan to work, Yin knew he had to create a big disturbance. He darted out of the shed and ran for the back door of the house. This got the attention of two of the White Lotus members who happened to be outside talking. He darted inside and they followed. As he ran around the house, members started chasing him along with the original two, and he got all the way to the front of the house. When he ran past the living room, the leader caught a glimpse of him running accompanied by the chasers.

"GET HIM!" He yelled as they chased him out of the house.

Yin ran out of the house where most of the people were. They saw him and started attacking him, but he dodged all the attacks and ran to the side towards the guesthouse where some of the members were looking around. They started chasing too. Yin ran as fast as he could, but they were still right behind them. For the plan to work, he needed some distance on them as well. As he ran around the guest house, he gathered water from the pond and froze it behind them. They had to break out of it, slowing them down a bit. He bended more water from the pond as he turned the corner of the guesthouse and ran towards the back of the main house. He ran at full speed for a minute, and then turned around and blasted all the water at them. It knocked the ones in front back and some on their feet as it completely stopped others.

Yin immediately turned around and ran at full speed towards the back. He got to the back and saw Ki finishing setting up with objects in each hand. He ran straight to the pond and glimpsed back to see what looked like at least 50 of the members. That would be the vast majority of them, and give them a fighting chance. When he arrived at the pond, he didn't hesitate and started bending it in such a way so he could run across it. A few seconds later, the members did the same but had to trek through it instead of running on it. When Yin reached the other side and got back on land, Ki immediately saw and pressed the buttons in his hands. The rods Ki put into the water on both sides and electrified the whole pond just as the last ones were getting in. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks and some had toe-curling screams. Ki pressed both buttons again and the machine stopped. Everyone collapsed into the water, not a single one moved.

"Ki! You're a genius!" Yin yelled as he walked over to the tree Ki was behind. All Ki could do was just stare.

"I-I did that?" Ki said as Yin hugged him. Yin let go and looked at the pond.

"Don't worry about that. Just grab the electric box and let's retake the estate." Yin said as he walked towards the estate.

Ki grabbed the box and pulled the rods out of the water. Yin bended the water around himself and his arms into a water cloak. They rushed into the house and into the living room where the leader was still there monitoring the head guard. Before the guard could react, Yin used some of the water to freeze him against the wall. He couldn't move and Yin used that to his advantage to free the head guard. Yin let go of all the water and it splashed onto the floor.

"You forgot you're outnumbered?" the leader said to him.

"The bulk of your friends are dead in that pond over there," Yin said as he motioned towards the back. "You're in no position to not comply."

the leader looked stunned.

"What's going on here?" The head guard said. "What's the true meaning of this plan?"

"I don't know." The leader said.

Yin slapped the leader as hard as he could, and it left a red mark on his left cheek. "We're being kind in sparing your life, so tell us or else our kindness will start running short," Yin said with a smug grin on his face, using the leader's words against him.

He sighed and spoke up, "The Peratil Clan is going to take over the city. They raised up the domes so they could take over sectors individually, that'll give them an actual chance. They planted us in the White Lotus so we could take over this part. If everything worked out to plan, they'll open the domes and bomb the city so no hostility will exist, and finally have their own state to work with." The man snorted to himself.

"There's nothing you can do about it anyway."

"You're right, but I can do this," Yin said as he motioned to Ki.

Ki walked over with the box and rods and pressed the button. The rods came back to life. He pressed both rods against the leader's neck and he convulsed slightly. Ki turned it off, and his head drooped.

"We need to tell Suyin about this," Yin said as the head guard reached for the radio.

* * *

As Ryu and Sara talked, Suyin called them down underground in a rush. Dragon followed them down and Suyin led them to the radio room.

"What's going on?" Ryu asked.

"We're receiving a transmission from the Estate," She said to them.

She picked up the mic, "Is everything ok?" She said into the mic.

The head guard spoke into the mic on her side. "Yes ma'am, the Estate's been reclaimed, ASAF." She said.

Everybody in the room celebrated, Dragon clapped, looked at Ryu, and smiled.

Ryu grabbed the mic. "Where's Yin and Ki?" He asked.

"They're right here, they retook it themselves." She said back and handed the mic to Yin.

"Ryu?"

"Yin! What did you guys do?" Ryu asked.

"How about I tell you a bit later, we have an issue on our hands," Yin said, making everybody in the room silent.

Everyone listened up to what Yin told them, some gasped and others tried to listen harder.

"We need to get back to the Estate-" Suyin said as another transmission came in.

"Hello?" She said as she grabbed the mic.

"Mrs. Beifong, you must leave the compound, there are more people on their way there. And it's not just bikers." One of the guards from the house they were at before said as vans rolled down the street, some filled with people, others with weapons. "You must leave immediately." He said as the transmission cut.

"Ma'am, we can have a car take you back to the subway house as soon as you give us the go ahead." Commander Tusk said.

"Please do so." She said. She stood on one of the chairs and started speaking.

"I want to thank you all for protecting us this far. Your service has been extremely valued to us, and I don't think me or this city could repay you guys," she said.

She stepped down from the chair and started talking to Ryu and Sara as some left in a hurry and others stayed around, like Dragon. He walked over slowly to them with his arms folded and grinning. "I was just assigned to go with you guys to back to the Estate," he said to them.

Then someone walked into the room. "The car is ready, we need you to leave now." The man said.

They left the underground area and went upstairs to a car that awaited them. Instead of the neighborhood, it looked like when they arrived it looked like a war zone with some of the people now guarding the street. They got in the car as the driver was ready. Suyin sat in the passenger seat as the other three crammed in the back with Dragon in the middle. As soon as the door closed, the car drove out of the driveway and into the street, swerving to avoid the damage. They left the neighborhood.

They blended in with the occasional car that drove past, but when they started to see the motorcade of vans going in the opposite direction, the driver made them duck down. He drove as normal as he could until it passed. Ryu's heart beat rapidly as he saw the lights of the van pass. Any one of them could break ranks to check out the car and they would be captured. Some of the vans had the backs open with weapons that were completely foreign to him. Sara closed her eyes while Dragon just looked straight ahead. No one dared to move just in case someone was looking and got suspicious.

The driver had them sit back up again after a while from when the vans had passed to make sure no one saw them. As soon as they all sat up and got back into place, a large piece of earth jutted out from the ground faster than the driver could react. He tried swerving, but he hit the large rock head on. He was knocked out by the impact.

Due to the angle the car hit, Ryu was ejected out the side window and onto the street. The airbag dazed Suyin, and Dragon and Sara were completely unphased and got out of the car and ran to Ryu. Ryu could only look as he saw them run towards them. A ringing in his ears prevented him from hearing them ask him questions, and what he did hear was muffled. His vision was blurry. Dragon tried shaking him, but Ryu couldn't talk. All of a sudden, Dragon stopped shaking him and he and Sara looked up. All Ryu could see were two people land behind them and before they could react, put bags over their heads. They only put up a bit of struggle before they went limp into the arms of the people. A van pulled up and came to a screeching halt to the scene. Ryu barely processed the situation until he too had a bag over his head. There was a chemical on the cloth of the bag that made him pass out. They carried them into the van and put them in neatly. They went and retrieved the driver and Suyin and did the same. The attackers got back into the van and drove off.

Ryu could only see darkness in this dream, unlike the others. He looked around, but it was dark all around him, He could see himself as he put his hands in front of him and could see them fine. When he put his hands down, Korra was walking towards him. He tried to talk to her, but couldn't she walked to him and stopped right in front of him. "In this dark time, find the most spiritual place you can get to. You will find all the answers there." She said to him.

To Be Continued...

* * *

 **That's Part 1! I hope you enjoyed it, like, comment for what you think can make this series better, and follow to get notifications for when the next chapter comes out! Thanks :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**This is Avatar: Chronicles of Ryu Part 2 finale. Let me know what you think! Please follow, favorite, and comment! Hope you enjoy the last chapter!**

* * *

Ryu woke up with a dull headache. He looked around him and realized he was in a wooden cell. No other objects, just surrounded by wood and a wooden gate that kept them in. The cuts and scrapes he had seemed to be treated and, fortunately, nothing a few band-aids and gauze couldn't fix. He turned to his side to see a guy, shirtless, with his back towards Ryu. By the blue streaks of dye in the back of his hair, Ryu identified it as Dragon. He shook him, but Dragon didn't respond.

" _Dragon?"_ He tried whispering in his ear.

Nothing. Ryu wound back his hand and struck him on the cheek with full force. Dragon woke up in a frenzy, immediately jumping up.

"What happened?" He said. He then felt the cheek where Ryu slapped him. "Dude, did you slap me?" He asked.

Then, what looked like a guard walked in front of the cell. "Oh, you've finally woken up," She said as she stood there without moving.

Ryu rushed up towards the gate and grabbed two of the wooden planks. "Let us out of here, **now**!" Ryu yelled as it reverberated against the walls around them.

The guard paused momentarily until she reached for her belt. Ryu braced for what came next but was greeted by the jiggling of keys.

"As you wish." She said, unlocking the gate and raising it up.

After she raised it up, she got on one knee and bowed. Ryu was hesitant as he looked at her until he felt a pat on his shoulder as Dragon stuck his head down the hall to look for others. He only saw the light of other cells with no one in them. It was just them. The guard stayed in her position, even as Dragon stepped out. When Ryu stepped out, she stood up and walked past them.

"Follow me," she said as she continued walking.

" _Pretty reverent for captors,"_ Dragon whispered in Ryu's ear.

Ryu nodded in agreement. The whole hallway was wooden, but they seemed to have put a lot of trust into Ryu and Dragon to only send one guard. But even if they wanted to attack, they couldn't as Dragon was a bit weak. She led them to what looked like a living area that was carved out of solid rock. People were all over the place. The area had televisions, a pai sho area where a bunch of men were huddled around yelling throwing money on the table while two players continued their game, a radio station where people were also huddled close trying to listen, and other hallways. The whole area was dimly but sufficiently lit by hanging lights scattered all over the place. It only took a few seconds for the whole place to fall silent to Ryu's entrance. They all stared blankly as Ryu looked around. The people by the radio station stared until two people emerged from their group. They rushed towards the two until Ryu realized who it was. Sara and Suyin hugged him so much he almost fell to the ground. When they let go, Ryu looked around some more to see some people kneeling and others still staring in amazement.

"Did the Peratil Clan kid-" Ryu started, but was cut off by Sara. She grabbed his arm and started pulling him. "Follow us, there's some explaining to do," Sara said.

They led them to a room where a few men were chatting. They were all wearing civilian clothes, but as soon as they entered, they stopped talking as if what they were talking about was confidential. They all looked at them when they walked in, a couple of them smiled and a couple looked stone-faced. One man stepped forward and slightly bowed. He was older, a bit balding hair, a large gut, a beard, and what looked like a tattoo on his right shoulder. He extended his hand and Ryu reluctantly shook it.

"We wish we could get you here on more amicable terms, but unfortunately we couldn't do that." He said with a smile.

"What is this?" Ryu asked.

"We're here to save the city." He said.

* * *

"When the city was attacked the first time by the Peratil Clan, we started to act." The man said. "We started a civil uprising to drive them out as best we could, we acted independently of the government, a group called the squadron." He said.

Suyin spoke up. "Yeah that was a pain," She said as a side comment.

The man scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry about that," He said with a smile. He continued talking. "For the most part, we were successful and got them out. But we knew we weren't out of the woods. Statistically, we're a weaker city to them. We're on the farther reaches of the United Forces' umbrella, we're easily accessible by land, the only thing we really have are the domes. Over the past years, we've expanded from being a rag-tag group to having eyes everywhere."

"How did you guys find us?" Ryu asked.

"I told them." A man behind him said. He stepped forward and Ryu instantly recognized him as the butcher who they went to downtown. "Suyin told me not to, but when I got the transmission that things in the suburban sector were going south, I couldn't help but contact them," he said.

"We didn't mean for you to get thrown out of the car like that, are you feeling alright?" The man asked.

"I'm fine," Ryu said.

"I have a question," Dragon said. "Why the hell am I shirtless?"

"You woke up in the middle of us transporting you. We tried to restrain you without hurting you but you put on quite some fight. You wouldn't stop moving and in the process, the shirt ripped clean off." The man said.

"Can I have another one then?" Dragon asked impatiently.

One of the men grabbed a potato sack and ripped two holes in it on the sides. He then ripped one in the bottom sewn bit. He threw the sack to him and Dragon caught it. Dragon looked at the man with a disappointed look on his face.

"You have nothing better?" He said.

The man who threw it shrugged. "Best we got right now." Dragon put the sack on.

The man who was talking before continued. "We know where their main operations center is, but they're also using the Police HQ as well. Civil Services have been halted and there was rioting outside of the hospital yesterday. It's almost impossible to get around the city while avoiding checkpoints now," The man said, that made Ryu curious.

"Wait, what sector are we in right now?" He asked.

"City," the man bluntly responded.

"How'd we get here?" Ryu asked.

"Butcher man told us about that crazy 'secret line'," He said as he motioned to the butcher.

"So, let me get this straight, you kidnapped us instead of just telling us your real motives in the first place, drugged us so we wouldn't put up a fight, and now you want our help?" Dragon asked.

"Look, we understand if you don't trust us-" The man started.

"How are we supposed to trust you?!" Ryu shouted.

Then, some man came rushing down the hallway and into the room. "You guys gotta come see this," He said.

They followed him back to the main area where people were gathered around the TV. They were able to get to the front of everyone to get a better view. Footage of City Hall was on, with a pale man standing in front of it. He had a mic in front of him, and a stern look on his face. People behind him were taking seats set out, and he started speaking. "Citizens of Zaofu," He started, "We understand your hostility to regime change, but your frivolous rioting will do no good. As you continue to divide yourselves, it gives us more of an advantage. To those in the City Sector, I invite you to come to the City Hall, and witness history being made as we show the world exactly who we are." The man said. At the end, he flashed a grin that made Ryu sick to his core.

The man who was talking to him in the other room made his way over to Ryu and talked in his ear. "Look, you may not trust us, but we trust you guys enough to have told you all we know about the situation. If you still don't trust us, we'll let you and your friends go back to the Estate and handle it your way, and we'll continue with our operations," He said.

Ryu leaned back. "Can you get me to that event?" He asked.

The man nodded.

Ryu extended his hand. "It'll be a pleasure doing business with you," Ryu said as the man shook his hand.

"You can call me Blackledge," he said back.

They went back into the room where they talked. "Since you guys told us everything you know, it's only fair we do the same," Ryu started.

"The domes were closed and the infrastructure was halted so that it would be easier to take over, as I'm sure you all know. We also found out that they plan on opening the domes and bombing away any signs of resistance."

"When are they gonna do that?" someone asked.

"We weren't told when" Ryu answered.

"What are they gonna bomb us with?" Another person asked.

"We...weren't told that either," Ryu responded.

"Well, we're going to need a plan, but first, let's get to City Hall," Blackledge responded.

* * *

The White Lotus guards were guarding the cells still thought the White Lotus on the surface had control and expected nothing. That's where Yin, Ki, and Frezia had the upper hand. Yin still had his water cloak and Ki had one of the electric boxes and the rods. Frezia put her hand on the door that led to the cells.

"On the count of three, 1...2...3," She said.

When she hit three, she balled her hand into a fist, and the door crumbled up into a mess of metal. Inside there were 6 guards walking back and forth. They immediately looked at the three barging in. Frezia extended both arms sharply with balled up fists. The metal cable flew out of her suit, two from each arm. She tied up four of the members and flung them into the other two. She released her cables and Yin froze them against the wall but left below the waist exposed.

"One of them have to have the keys," She said over the loud cheering from the other guards.

As they walked past the cells, they hollered in joy and smiles spread across their fourth one against the wall had the keys, and they unlocked the cells and let the guards free.

When they were back on the surface, the guards all went to the communications center. Frezia briefed them about what's going on and told them that the Avatar and Suyin were expected any moment now. She assigned them all temporary jobs to keep the Estate running as they awaited a transmission.

* * *

As they left the shop the base was hidden in, they put up the hoodies they were wearing, different in the ones they wore in the suburban sector, where these stopped at the waist. Blackledge and Dragon went with, but was just a few people ahead just in case, somehow, someone recognized his Blackledge's face from the first liberation. Ryu wore an eyepatch and a mask so it looked like he was sick. He threw in a cough occasionally to play the part. Suyin knew it would be too risky to go with them, so she stayed put. Sara, with not many people knowing exactly what she looks like, was able to keep her hood down and held on to Ryu's hand, guiding him around. They blended in crowd wise with the multitude of people on their way to City Hall as well. The temperature in the dome had plummeted with the sun being blocked for so long, making it feel like winter. Ryu breathed into his hands as they got cold. He'd always hated cold weather and dreaded the fall and winter seasons. They followed the path of the crowd. Some pushed and shoved to get ahead of others, but they walked as the crowd allowed them, wanting as little attention to them as possible.

When they arrived at City Hall, there were chairs with people sitting in them on the top of the steps with a mic in the middle. Towards the bottom of the steps were barricaded with people guarding them. Some people were aggressive and shouted at the people guarding it, and some tried knocking down the barricade, but they were swiftly taken out and pulled towards the side. The front line was barbaric, trying desperately to break down the barrier to storm the City Hall. Some benders got violent as well, as you could see fire cast out from the crowd and the ground shook with earthbenders fighting. Some of the people guarding city hall started going into the crowd to subdue the benders. Towards the back, things were more calm, with people craning their necks to get a better view. The lake behind the crowd was peaceful, with the usual turtle ducks swimming around. Ryu and Sara were near the middle, while Blackledge was a few people up. He turned back to see Ryu and Sara to make sure they were near. Shortly after he turned back around, the doors to city hall opened. The fighting towards the front stopped entirely as the crowd collectively turned their attention to the doors. The man with pale skin and grey eyes walked out slowly in equalist-style clothing. His hair, well-kept and grey as well, fluttered as he took his steps. As he walked up to the mic, the trees around City Hall rustled as cameramen got up in them to broadcast the event. The world could see it all, as City Hall had the necessary means of broadcasting outside the dome. It felt as if the entire world paused, there was barely any movement. Then he started speaking.

"Citizens of Zaofu and citizens of all other countries, If you must have a name for me, you may call me Leader Ultace. I am here to claim victory over Zaofu and to establish a new government. To quell all arguments and debates, this is not, in fact, a fluke move. It is not an accident. It is not a malfunction of the domes. This is the work of the Peratil Clan. Our infiltration of the government and ability to bring it to its knees is just a practice and no one's to say we haven't taken steps to infiltrate other cities or even nations? To those countries who are now thinking of attacking us, you must ask yourself a question: Do you want to risk the lives of 700,000 innocent people? We now have all of these people held hostage. The last thing they want is to be met with death from the very people they thought they could trust."

Just then, he was cut off by a man in the crowd. "What are you gonna do when the Avatar comes and shoves a boot up your ass?!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Because he was so close and it was so quiet, the mic just barely picked him up, and he was heard around the world as people were glued to their televisions watching. The crowd burst into mumbles and people started shuffling around, turning to others to say something. Ultace continued talking. "Yes, let's talk about the Avatar," he said into the mic, "We were able to trap him in Suyin Beifong's Estate. He is tied up and at our mercy," he lied.

Ryu just stood there and took it all in. He could laugh out loud in anger but kept silent. Ultace made him look weak, he clenched his fists, one of which was still in Sara's hand. She moved her head closer to his and whispered in his ear, " _calm down, everything's going to be ok. He's giving us the element of surprise._ " She said.

Her warm breath was relief on Ryu's ear, her words soothing his anger. His grip loosened a bit.

"Even if the Avatar were here," Ultace said, "He's only mastered one element. He's no match against this government. Right now, the Avatar isn't a threat to anyone." He said.

Just then, a small chant started that gradually got louder as more people said it. 'A-VA-TAR! A-VA-TAR!" The people yelled, broken into three syllables. Those around him and Sara started chanting it as well, leaving Ryu and Sara no choice but to start chanting it as well to blend in. Then, towards the front, more guards moved in on the front line. They started attacking, but the crowd attacked back. It was a full-on battle within a couple of minutes, with dust from earthbenders being kicked up and the orange light of firebenders being seen from the back. Waterbenders used the nearby lake to push back, but even with all the attacks, they were slightly outmatched by the rebels. They were obviously trained well and were able to subdue them easily.

Ryu reached a tipping point when he started to see that the rebels were winning. Before he could think it all the way through, he launched himself into the air with the earth beneath him. Sara just looked up, and instantly knew the plan had gone awry. As soon as Ultace saw someone leap into the air, he knew exactly who it was. As Ryu got closer, he shot out a metal cable to wrap around one of the columns in front of City Hall. He retracted it and landed on the steps of City Hall.

He looked to his side, and Ultace was just staring at him. No surprised expression, no dull expression, he just looked at him as if he'd seen him a thousand times before. Ryu extended his left arm and made a fist, extending the sword from his arm.

"You think I'm weak now?" Ryu yelled at him.

Ultace walked calmly towards the door, turning his back on Ryu. The people sitting in the chairs got up and walked in with him. As the last one walked in, a bunch of rebels came running out and immediately started to grab Ryu. Ryu did a backflip and swiped at the rebel who first tried to grab him, cutting him from the center-left of his torso to his right shoulder. He collapsed in pain. Ryu retracted his sword and started bending metal sheets toward the assailants.

Blackledge pulled out a radio and spoke into it. "Mayday, mayday, mayday, we need back up immediately," he said into the radio.

"We saw on TV, we've sent a motorcade already, should be five minutes out." Someone said back. Another line came through, "Copy, we're about five minutes out,".

Dragon walked over to Sara, "We need to get up there and help him," he said to her.

"I know...If I can get us up in the air, could you keep us up long enough for me to get ahold of one of those columns?" She asked.

"I think so," he said back.

"Well, grab on tight," she said.

He grabbed her by the waist and she launched them both into the air. Since she had way more than double the weight on her, it was harder for her to get into the air. As soon as they got high enough, Dragon kicked his feet out, propelling them up more. Sara was able to get a metal cable around one of the columns and retract it. When they landed, Dragon immediately threw a few fire punches. Most still focused on Ryu, who had a plan. He walked over to one of the four columns and used it as a dodge for one of the assailants who bended a large piece of earth right at him. It hit the column and chipped it a bit. Ryu then punched the column and a large piece went flying towards them. It hit one and took them out and Ryu went back to attacking.

Ryu did this with two others when Sara realized what he was doing. Ryu hid behind the last one still intact when he called out her name. Sara looked as he motioned for her and Dragon to get from under there. They gradually got to a point where they weren't under it but the assailants were. Ryu kicked a large piece of the last column out, but it still stood. Ryu then ran towards Sara and Dragon. He dodged the attacks on the way and took his arms and extended them. The ground trembled just a bit, and then he pulled them in, making the entire front of the building collapse.

The van pulled up as the front collapsed. During the fight, Blackledge had been making his way towards the street where the vans would pull up. He was able to squeeze past the last few people and make a dash for the van. "LET'S GO!" he yelled to them.

Somehow, over the mass chaos, they heard him and got down to the van. The back doors flew open and two people in the back helped them in. As soon as they all got in, the van peeled off and the two people closed the van doors. The force of the car suddenly accelerating threw Ryu to the back right door of the van.

"I can't believe we made it out of there," Sara said out of breath.

Everyone in the van chuckled. The driver looked in the rearview mirror and immediately noticed the bikers following them.

"We're not out of the woods yet," she said. The others in the van could see what she meant.

"We gotta get rid of them so we can get back to base," Blackledge said as the vans gained on them.

"Evasive maneuvers, lead them to the other side of town so they think we're going to base. We gotta start attacking them," He said as he turned to Ryu, Dragon, and Sara.

Ryu and Dragon were able to stand by the middle windows and roll them down. The sound of the motorcycles flooded the inside of the van. They looked back to see 6 motorcycles tailing the van in a V-shaped formation. Dragon immediately started attacking, throwing fire punches that made the bikers swerve to miss them. Ryu tried metalbending metal sheets over their eyes but missed every time.

"I'm about to make an abrupt turn, brace yourselves!" the driver said.

Ryu and Dragon got themselves back in the van and braced. The van jerked to the left and the tires screeched and left skid marks on the road. Ryu was flung to the other side of the van and onto Dragon. When they could they stood back up and looked out the window. The bikers were back on them, but significantly farther away.

"Sara, I'm gonna need your help!" Ryu said.

Sara stood up. "We're gonna make a wall to block them," Ryu told her, and she nodded. She stood by one window and he stood by the other. They looked back at each other and when Ryu nodded, they made a wall as wide as the street and as tall as the first floor of the buildings.

Once they got the bikers off their tails, they were able to go slower down the streets. They went all around the city, in case they were being followed in a different way. As they started seeing more people, they realized they were aggressive. Confusion was rampant down the streets, people were running around in different directions, jumping on cars and smashing through some windows of stores. It caused extreme traffic as they tried navigating through the people.

* * *

When they arrived at the base, the driver pulled the van into a small lot. They got out and went into a regular looking building. When they walked through the back door, they went in an elevator hidden behind a wall that had to be brought down with earthbending. In there were two metalbenders to guide the elevator down. Blackledge said they could've upgraded to an automatic elevator, but then that would leave them open to surprise attacks. When they got down, it was noticeably busier than before. People were buzzing around like it was an office. Ryu tried to look around for familiar faces when he found two that completely caught him off guard.

Yin and Ki.

"Missed us?" Yin asked as he walked up to them.

He greeted Ryu with a bear hug.

"How'd you guys get here?!" Ryu asked in shock still.

"They had a whole operation to get us out while the focus was pointed at City Hall. Apparently, there's this underground subway syst-"

"Yeah, we know all about the subway system," Ryu said with a smile on his face.

Yin looked next to Sara to see Dragon, who he obviously didn't know, as he was taking his hood off to reveal his potato sack shirt.

"Uh...Who are you and why are you wearing a potato sack?" Yin asked.

Dragon smirked, "I'm just a guy with a bit of blue hair and a lot of finesse…" He said in a sly manner with his arms crossed. "Oh, and I guess I'm the escort to the Avatar now," he looked over to Ryu "by the way, stop getting yourself in situations you can't get yourself out of." He said to Ryu.

"I'll do as I please and you'll still come running after me," Ryu said while shrugging his shoulders. Dragon snorted and walked away.

"I don't really like him," Yin said as he was leaving earshot.

"Really? I just thought you two were so alike, you'd hit it off." Ryu said as he started to walk off.

"We are not alike!" Yin yelled as he followed him.

Suyin found them and took them to the small television room they had set up, where Blackledge and others including the butcher were as well. The TV's sowed various different parts of the sector, all with mass confusion going on. People were looting stores, rioting, and City Hall was a full-on battle, with the civilians losing badly. "After what happened, the whole city has descended into anarchy. We're getting reports from our guys in the suburban sector that they're actually winning," One man said.

"This just shows you what happens when people get a bit of hope," Blackledge said. Ryu looked at one monitor and saw people rioting in front of a building with a few people at the door in hospital clothes trying to calm the crowd down.

"What's going on there?" Ryu asked.

"Looks like they're going to raid the hospital," Blackledge said as the room's focus turned to that monitor.

"We should probably do something, send a caravan to help disperse the crowd-" Blackledge was cut off by Ryu.

"Wait, I should go there and speak," Ryu said.

"Oh no, absolutely not," the butcher said,

"It was a big enough risk that you went to City Hall, now you're flaunting out in the city? That's a suicide mission."

"If we keep this up, the people will be disorganized. If I speak, we can rally them around one cause- our cause."

"If we do go through with this, we could broadcast it to the whole city," Blackledge said.

"Ma'am, what do you think?" the butcher asked Suyin. She stood silent for several seconds, fixed on the monitor.

"The Avatar's right, get them two vans to the hospital." She said. Everyone in the room scrambled to fulfill her orders.

* * *

Ultace sat in the monitor room, looking at the chaos unfolding in front of the hospital. There was no possible way that broadcast could've been worse. Everyone in City Hall knew they had the Avatar pinned down in the suburban sector. There was no way he could've gotten downtown. Now there's a search for the Avatar and a sense of panic among the rebellion. Everyone knew this lack of communication would hurt both sides, but they _planned_. They planned so that all aspects could work without needing commands. Now, things were collapsing down around him. There was a knock on the door and then the door opened. The woman he designated to give him updates walked in with a large portable radio in her hands. "Sir, It's General Koriku," She said, handing him the receiver.

"General, status update?" Ultace asked.

"Sir, we have the planes on standby, ready on your command," Koriku said.

"We have to pin down the Avatar, then we will give you the order."

"Yes sir,"

* * *

They finally arrived at the hospital after two hours of driving, being stopped by people in the streets. The city had truly descended into anarchy. The vans parked around the corner of the hospital and the whole crew got out. Ryu, Yin, Sara, Dragon, and Blackledge were in one, and a cameraman and five bodyguards were in the other. They walked right up to the hospital in almost no disguise, as it was deserted just around the hospital. A host of the hospital staff was keeping the rioters just beyond the steps. As they approached the crowd, the bodyguards got in front of them and made way for them to get to the steps, moving people out of the way. When they got to the steps, Ryu took the lead and walked up to the disheveled staff.

"I'll take it from here, thank you," Ryu said.

"Avatar Ryu?" a doctor asked in shock as the hospital staff murmured in the back, a few started to bow. Ryu turned around and Blackledge handed him the megaphone they brought. Dragon got into a battle stance and started moving his arms around. This made a ball of fire in the sky above the rioters. They looked as it separated into two different serpent-like fire whips, which danced around each other. The display lasted for half a minute, afterward, it fell silent. The cameraman turned his camera on and turned the signal transmitter on that they taped to the camera quite precariously. The signal emitter was plugged into the camera and transmitted the signal to the base. There, hackers wormed their way into the City Hall transmitter, and, since it wasn't in use, should be able to broadcast the message to the whole city on TVs and radios. If they were extremely lucky, other cities would be listening to it and broadcasting it around the world too. Ryu turned on the megaphone and started speaking.

"I-I know you probably don't know my face off the top of your head, but I'm Avatar Ryu." He said a bit nervously. "Th-the rebels thought they could trap me in the estate while they execute their plan, but they failed. They thought they could keep me silent, but they failed at that too. And I can tell you this, they will fail at overthrowing Zaofu!" The crowd erupted in cheer and clapping. When it subsided, Ryu started talking again. "Living in Omashu for 8 years, I didn't know how...colorful the world could be. What I've learned is the diversity of people in the world. But here, I've learned one thing, the resilience of people. Like the element of earth, you all are strong, persistent, and enduring. You take a hit and bounce back harder. In this tough situation, it seems like it's everyone for themselves. But now is not the time to think that way. We must focus our anger on these rebels!" they cheered again. "They're preying on our mass confusion. They created a vacuum of power by overthrowing the government and now they're filling it. The void that we allow, they benefit. Let's not fight and fend for ourselves. Let's turn our anger to the rebels!"

Then, the bodyguards grabbed Ryu and the others. They started to push people out of the crowd as quickly as they could, getting them away from the hospital.

"I wasn't done!" Ryu said.

"We just got radio from base, rebels inbound. We need to leave now." They said as they got out of the crowd.

The guards grabbed them by the arms and started running to the van. The rioters started chasing them. As they reached the van, there was a large explosion that almost knocked them over. The explosion happened around the corner, closer to the hospital. Their ears were ringing as the guards shoved them into the van. Ryu fainted as he got into the car.

Ryu had a vision of his dream when they captured him in the suburban sector. Korra appeared again and said, "In this dark time, find the most spiritual place you can get to. You will find all the answers there."

Ryu woke up breathing heavily. They were still in the van, and Sara was hovering over him feeling his head to see if he was sick. Ryu tried speaking but couldn't.

"He looks like he's trying to say something," Yin said.

"Calm him down so he can," Blackledge said to the back as he looked at the road.

"Hey, hey, you're ok, just breathe in and out." She guided him on breathing.

"I-I need to go to the most spiritual place in the city," Ryu said.

"Really? Now?!" Blackledge said.

"Korra came to me and told me when I was unconscious, but I must've forgot. Where would that place be?" Ryu asked,

"The Air Temple," Blackledge replied.

"We need to go there, now."

"Suyin's gonna get a kick out of this one," Blackledge said as he reached for his radio.

* * *

Suyin grudgingly agreed to go to the Air Temple. As the two vans tried making it to the temple, they realized something. The people weren't fighting each other. Rather, they'd taken up arms against the rebels. People attacked the bikers, mostly with metalbending, some fire could be seen as it streaked across the street. The bikers tried the best they could, but the people were too much for them. The entire city had become a battlefield in almost an instant.

"Looks like my words were much powerful than my bending," Ryu said,

"For now, I'm sure whatever Korra has in mind will be 10 times more powerful than this," Blackledge said.

Sara grabbed Ryu's hand and looked at him.

"Did she tell you anything else?" She asked.

"N-no," Ryu responded, "She just told me to go to the most spiritual place in the city,"

"That's helpful," Ki said. Blackledge's radio then went off.

"Blackledge?" the other van said,

"yeah,"

"We need to split up, it's too risky to go together. We're taking an alternate route," they said.

"Be safe," Blackledge said back.

The City of Zaofu was in more chaos than before. In some areas, the citizens were winning. In others, the rebels were winning. It was the same way in almost every sector. Ryu wanted to get out and fight with them, but he knew what Korra wanted him to do. They passed shops on fire, skirmishes in the streets, bodies either unconscious or dead and wreckage everywhere.

On the way to the temple, Sara decided to sit next to Ryu. "What do you think Korra's gonna tell you?" She asked.

"I don't know," Ryu said softly,

"I imagine some sort of secret lever that no one knows about that will turn things back to normal." he chuckled at the end of his sentence.

"What if what she tells you isn't helpful?" Sara asked. Ryu was stone silent for a few seconds, which felt like an eternity to Sara.

"We can't think about that," he said.

They both went quiet. Sara put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She didn't mean to, but in a matter of seconds, she was asleep. Ryu was tired, but he couldn't go to sleep. He felt the weight of the whole city and the eyes of the whole world on him.

* * *

When they finally got to the Air Temple, they were greeted by something different. The whole street was completely intact, and no fighting. The Air Nomads hadn't taken place in any of the fighting, just as expected. The rest were already there and had blocked off the street. They got out of the van to be greeted by the others. Suyin had gotten to them and was outside of the Air Temple while others were on the lookout, on top of the other buildings on the street and standing in the street too. Ryu looked at the temple and realized it looked like a scaled-down version of the temple on Air Temple Island in Republic City. Ryu walked over across the street to a rather large pond. The water was so clear you could see straight through. It was strangely peaceful for such a hostile time. Ryu knelt down by the pond and saw his reflection. Yin came up behind him and put his hand on Ryu's shoulder. Ryu looked up and smiled. As Ryu and Yin looked at the temple, an Air Nomad stepped out. He immediately saw Ryu and bowed.

"Avatar Ryu, it's a pleasure to meet you." He said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too," Ryu said bowing back.

"If it is perfectly fine with you, I was sent here by Avatar Korra. May I come in?"

"Avatar Ryu, I'm sure you know we remain neutral in all conflicts and would prefer to stay out of this battle," The nomad said.

"I understand," Ryu said.

He looked at Suyin, "we should probably go-" The Nomad cut him off.

"That being said, we do serve at the pleasure of the Avatar. Please, come in." The Nomad led Ryu, Yin, Sara, Ki, Dragon, and Suyin into the temple.

At City Hall, It was complete chaos. Everyone was scrambling as the rioting just outside was scrambling. Ultace was in his room when his assistant barged in. "Sir, we're getting reports that the Avatar is at the Air Temple." She said.

"How can we know?" He responded.

"Footmen are radioing in saying that the street is blocked off. They're awaiting your orders, sir."

"Start moving footmen into the area, I want as many as possible there in twenty minutes. Pull them from their designated stations if you have to, I want the whole street to be surrounded and the Avatar to be pinned down."

"Yes, sir," she said as she left the room.

Ultace picked up the radio to General Koriku who picked up immediately.

"General, prepare your troops for the air raid. Contact me in 25 minutes when I will give further orders." Ultace hung up immediately after.

* * *

As they walked in the temple, Ryu felt a surge of what he assumed was 'spiritual energy'. As they stood in the simple lobby area, the monk told them about the history of the temple. It was the newest of the set of temples built after the dissolution of the Earth Empire. The temples were built around the world so that Airbenders around the world would have guidance in bending and spiritual life. He told them how spirits often come to the temples and the nomads will take care of them and how the spirits are excellent storytellers. The monk led them into the worship room. When he opened the doors, the smell of incense wafted out. The entire room was lit by candles. There were wood pilings that started at the floor and went into the ceiling There were square red meditation pads arranged neatly in rows. In the front, there was an altar with a white tablecloth draped over it. Behind it was an Air Nation symbol with a grey background. In front of it was a meditation pad that was slightly bigger than the rest and had gold trimming.

"I am assuming you need to contact your predecessor, correct?" the monk asked.

"I'm not completely sure, I was just told to come here. I thought maybe you guys would have the answers." Ryu said back.

"If you have to ask me, I think she wants you to make contact with her. Follow me."

Ryu followed the monk to the front, sat in the lotus position on the meditation pad, and closed his eyes. The others followed as well and stared at Ryu.

"Feel the energy swarm around you. Let the heat from the candles amplify your energy. Breathe slowly and focus on your feelings, let the candlelight guide you."

"Do you think this is gonna work?" Sara whispered to Ki.

"I don't know, seems kind of pointless," Ki whispered back.

"It's gonna work if you two shut up!" Ryu said.

Ryu did as the monk told him too. Soon, the flickering of the candles turned into swirling. Then the swirling got brighter and brighter until the dim light from behind Ryu's eyelids brought him to a mountaintop. The clouds gently glided at his level, and passed by Ryu, inhibiting his vision for a moment. When it passed, he saw a figure in blue turned away, looking over the edge. He knew exactly who it was.

"Korra!" He exclaimed, but she didn't respond. He walked over to her.

"Korra! There- there's a coup going on in Zaofu, I-I need-" Ryu collapsed to his knees and started to tear up. He thought of all the people who were sacrificing their lives as he was doing this instead of out there fighting with them. Korra turned around and helped him up. When he got back on his feet, she hugged him tight.

"I know what's going on," She said,

"I know what you're doing. And you're doing amazing." She let go and looked at him.

"I knew meditation classes was the right thing to do! We wouldn't have this without them!"

Korra said to him. Ryu immediately realized that and for once was happy they had what he thought was a pointless class.

"What am I gonna do? It's only gonna be a short while before they open up the domes and bomb the city…"

* * *

As Ryu was unresponsive, Blackledge came barging in. "We need to leave, now!" He said. "Our position's been compromised, it's only a matter of minutes before the rebels show up!"

"Ryu just started meditating," Yin said.

Blackledge rolled his eyes toward the window and looked back. "Ok you grab his feet, I'll grab his head," he said as he started walking over to the front.

The monk stopped him.

"You can't move the Avatar, the spirit has to find its way back to the body." He said.

"So what are we supposed to do? Just sit here like lame turtle ducks?" Blackledge said.

After a long pause, Suyin spoke up, "Protect the temple. Use all available forces. We need to buy him some time." She said.

* * *

"When my first conflict happened, all I wanted was to contact the previous Avatars," Korra said, "I just wanted some advice. Maybe things would've played out better. When I finally got that connection, I only had it for a short while before it was ripped from me. I spent my entire life restoring that connection for the next Avatar so he wouldn't have to go down this road alone, the least I could do since I was shoving you into a world of chaos and fear that I couldn't even fix before my death."

Korra turned to Ryu. "But now, things have gotten as bad as they have since the hundred-year war. In the near future, the very same terrorist group that plagues you now will do unspeakable things to the world. Ally will turn on ally, civil war will break out among those you never thought it would, and they will be behind every major move on the world stage."

* * *

"When's he gonna get out?" Ki asked,

"Can't tell," The monk said,

"I've seen some people stay in there for days,"

"Days?!" Yin said,

"We don't have days, we have minutes!" Immediately, they heard fighting break out outside. Sara looked out the window.

"I'm not sure we even have that," she said.

Just outside it was a full-on battle with swarms of rebels coming from both sides of the streets. Those from the roofs tried taking out rebels on the ground with little success, with earthbenders and firebenders on the ground taking them out. It looked like citizens from the surrounding area were trying to help, but there were just too many rebels in one area. As they moved in quickly on the temple, they could hear those right outside scrambling to protect.

"Alright, gather up," Suyin said to them. They got closer as they faced the door. "Me, Dragon, and Sara will guard the door. Yin and Ki, if they break down the door, your jobs are to get Ryu out of here as soon as possible. Break down a window and escape through there. Dragon and Sara, after they get out, you go with them."

"What about you?" Sara asked.

"I'll hold them off for as long as I can...Don't worry about me, just worry about getting Ryu out of here."

"What about me?! I can fight too!" The monk said running over to them.

"What about neutrality?" Suyin asked.

"They have assaulted our city and now threaten our place of worship," the monk said, "the others upstairs may not agree, but screw neutrality."

"Well, you can hold them off with me," Suyin said.

"It would be an honor to fight with you, ma'am," the monk responded.

* * *

"Sir," Ultace's update lady said as she barged in again, "The Air Temple is surrounded,"

"Excellent, thank you, get ready to pull the domes down," Ultace said, she nodded and left the room. Ultace reached for the radio, in which General Kuriko picked up immediately again.

"Sir, we're engines hot, ready on your command,"

"General, we will be retracting the domes in a few minutes, when they come down fully, start the air raid. Be sure to check your maps and do not bomb City Hall,"

"Yes, sir," they hung up.

* * *

"But what if I don't master the elements in time? What if I'm not good enough to take them down?" Ryu asked.

"I know you can do this and save the world, as you have done it before," Korra said with a grin. Ryu grinned too. "Zaofu needs you, Ryu, it is time for us to go our separate ways."

"But what am I to do when I get back? I need your help!" Ryu said, panicking.

"Do not worry," Korra said peacefully. She closed her eyes and he did the same.

"A great danger awaits you back at the temple. I can help you, but only if you are ready." Ryu opened his eyes and they glowed. In a thousand different voices he spoke,

"I'm ready."

* * *

Worldwide, statues and paintings and shrines for the Avatar glowed. People bowed before the icons. In Republic City, the people unglued from their TV's and radios on updates from the Zaofu conflict to see the statue of Avatar Aang's eyes glow. People gawked and pointed at it, gathering in crowds to see it. People got out of buildings to get a better view, rooftops became packed with people trying to get a full view. Mako, Bolin, and Asami went on the rooftop of Mako and Bolin's penthouse to see it.

"It looks like this is gonna end real soon," Mako said.

The rooftop door burst open. The three turned around, only to see Lin Beifong in full uniform. "C'mon! You idiots wanna be late and miss the aftermath?! We need to get to Zaofu now!" She yelled and went running back down the stairs. The trio followed.

* * *

The rebels defeated the guards and swarmed the whole temple with every weapon and bender they threw the bodies of those who guarded them, including Blackledge's, onto the land by the pond. They went right up to the doors and banged on them.

"Come out with the Avatar and we won't hurt anyone. If we have to bust these doors down, we will kill every single person in that room. We have the whole place surrounded so there's no escape." A man said through a megaphone.

"No matter what happens, it's been great fighting alongside every one of you," Suyin said as she stood in a ready stance.

"This is your final chance to turn over the Avatar and live, fighting is fruitless, we will kill you." The man said.

Sara stood in a ready stance with a tear going down her cheek. Dragon just chuckled to himself. _If this is how I go out, at least it'll be big_ he thought to himself. Yin just had his eyes on Ryu, hoping that he would open his eyes at any moment so they could leave early. Ki was sitting next to Yin with his eyes closed, trying not to think that if these were his last moments of life, he hadn't said goodbye to his parents or his brother. On the other side of the door, the rebels had grown tired of waiting.

"Blast the doors open," the man said.

The firebenders got into position. They all punched a continuous stream of fire at the door with all their might. The door didn't even stand a chance to the force of their bending and instantly flew open.

The instant that the doors had flown open, Ryu's eyes opened, glowing. He had entered the Avatar State.

He crossed his arms on either side of his body and flung them into opposite sides, creating an extremely powerful air blade that shattered all the windows, blew out every candle, blew the meditating pads all across the room, and knocked down Sara, Dragon, the monk, and Suyin. Ki and Yin were already kneeling when the air hit them, but it still knocked them on the ground. The air continued to travel into the lobby, where it completely decimated it and knocked every rebel in the lobby out onto the street. The entire front of the lobby was blown outwards as if a bomb had gone off, blowing large pieces of debris out and into the swarm of rebels, knocking out some, but most had fallen over. Back inside, Yin smiled at Ryu, but his smile quickly faded when he realized that it almost wasn't Ryu. Ryu got up and walked out of the worship room out onto the street. The rebels all scrambled to their feet and immediately started attacking. A hail of elements came towards Ryu. Suyin looked in horror as she thought it was it for him. Ryu raised both of his hands into the air and the ground in front of him raised to make an earth wall that shielded him from each attack. Ryu lowered the wall and struck the ground hard with his fist. The ground around them shook violently, so violently that those on their feet fell to the ground. The roads around the temple collapsed except for where Ryu was standing and the rebels fell into the hole. Ryu then extended his arms and brought them up like a puppetmaster. The water in the pond started to swell until a water vortex was made. The water from the pond floated to the air into a large mass of water. Ryu compressed it all into the size of a tree. He brought it close to the trenches that used to be the streets and let it go. The water exploded and filled the trench around the temple to be flooded with water. It created waves in the trenches so high that the rebels tried running away from, but still got caught in.

Then the domes came down.

As they retracted, fresh light hit Zaofu for the first time in 3 days. The citizens in the streets rejoiced, but it was short-lived when they realized the engine noises. Around Ryu, gusts of wind went in every direction and he started floating off the ground. Ryu had formed an air spout with him at the top. He was higher than the temple when he saw the first planes in formation. The planes, red and emboldened with the fire nation symbols, started heading towards the city. Ryu moved his hands around and extended them towards the plane. Five very large bolts of fire formed and seared their way across the midday sky towards the planes. The citizens watched in fear and exclaimed when they saw the fire bolts streak across the sky. The bolts hit and destroyed every plane in formation and cheers could be heard across the city. More planes came up ready to attack. As one approached head-on, he raised his arms up and a tall pillar emerged from the ground in the path of the plane, too close for it to avoid. The plane ran into the pillar at full force. Another plane had gone around Ryu, trying to avoid his wrath. As the plane went around, the pilot released the payload and started bombing the city. As he straightened out his course straight for Ryu's back, Ryu turned around to see him. When he got considerably close, Ryu extended his hands and cable flew out of his suit toward the plane. It grabbed onto the propellers and onto the wings of the plane. Ryu flung his body in the other direction and flung the plane down into the ground. Ryu then started moving as the air spout moved as well. It picked up speed and flew through the streets of Zaofu, only messing up the hair of the people in its path. As he passed, people celebrated with cheers of joy and crying. Some kneeled on the ground with their heads bowed. Others started to cry tears of joy. Ryu got by City hall to see Ultace standing outside, looking at him. With one swipe of his right hand, Ryu created a tsunami out of the lake City Hall faced. The wave traveled fast and shook the ground as it moved. It crashed into City Hall, almost completely knocking it down. The part that still stood was flooded.

When Ryu reached the edge of the city to see the planes on the ground, Suyin, Sara, Ki, Yin, Dragon, and the monk all went outside to see. Sara immediately jumped into action, extending her arm and flinging a metal cable to the roof of a building and scaling it, hopping from building to building to get a closer look. Suyin soon followed. From the ground, General Kuriko saw the frightening sight. As more planes tried taking off, they couldn't as extremely powerful gusts of wind prevented them from taking off. Pilots started hopping out of the planes and running when planes started being knocked backward, being tossed around effortlessly like pieces of paper. A tornado had formed right on top of them, tearing up the whole takeoff area. Every plane was overturned by the time the tornado dissipated. The camp set up by the rebels was completely gone as if it were never there. Ryu turned around to see on the other side of the city, airships making a turn throughout the valley. They were emboldened with the United Forces logo. Their message had gone out and the United Republic had sent the United Forces. Ryu started to descend as the people cleared a large area for him.

They clapped and cheered and hollered at him as he descended. Sara had gotten there as he got close to the ground. She had just gotten on the ground when Ryu exited the Avatar State and fell.

She ran over and caught him, cushioning his fall. He looked around as all the people just stared, thinking he had died as his body fell like a ragdoll to the ground.

"What happened?" Ryu asked in a very weak voice.

" _You saved Zaofu_!" Sara said softly as a tear ran down her cheek and a half-laugh half-sob came out with it.

"I did?" He asked, "I only remember being in the Spirit World…"

" _You just destroyed the entire rebel force,_ "

"really? I wish I'd seen it," Sara chuckled.

"Thanks for catching me, I guess,"

Sara moved closer to his face. "I'm happy I did," she said as she smiled.

She leaned in and locked lips with his. In the few seconds, it lasted, it was just them. When she leaned back, Ryu started to smile, but it immediately started to fade as he went to sleep.

"Ryu?" Sara shook him, "Ryu!" he wouldn't wake up. Suyin arrived shortly after to assist Sara.

* * *

He woke up a day later, in a private hospital room. Suyin was staring at the TV when she saw Ryu stir as he woke up. She got to her feet and walked to the bed rail.

"Hey, bed head," she said to him.

"How long was I out?" Ryu asked.

"Just a day," Suyin responded. The door opened and Yin, Dragon, Sara, Mako, Bolin, Asami, and Lin filed in.

"You're awake!" Sara exclaimed as she ran to the bed and hugged him tightly.

"That was amazing!" Yin said, "They thought they had us but you went out there like _WHOOSH!_ And _SWISH!_ " He did hand motions with his sound effects but stopped when he almost knocked a vase of flowers over.

"We came to Zaofu as fast as possible to make sure you were ok, kid," Lin said,

"Where's Ki?" Ryu said, looking around the room.

"He was here earlier, he went to go see his family," Dragon said.

"We saw what you did on TV, it's playing worldwide," Bolin said.

"It's on TV?" Ryu asked.

"Yep, first time the Avatar State's been caught on camera, the guy who filmed it is probably an overnight millionaire," Mako said.

Dragon got closer to the bed and put his elbow on the rail. "I thought I was gonna die in that temple," he said, "Thanks for coming to at the last possible moment," Dragon rubbed Ryu's curly hair in an attempt to mess it up.

"What happened after I went to sleep?" Ryu asked.

"The United Forces arrived pretty much as you were leaving the Avatar State. They rounded up any leftover rebels and have been providing aid to the city in medical, supplemental, and governmental assistance." Suyin responded.

"What about Ultace?"

"You...killed him in a giant tsunami wave you created and it hit City Hall…" Suyin said.

"Oh...I'm sorry,"

"No, don't be! He was a horrendous human being and deserved his fate."

"What about the rebels and the people who helped them?"

"You...kind of...drowned most of them by the temple…" Yin said hesitatingly.

"The people who helped him at City Hall were inside during the tsunami wave. Any survivors downtown and those in the other sectors were captured and are being sent to Ba Sing Se." Suyin added.

"What do you remember?" Dragon asked.

"I remember going to the temple and meditating, I got to talk to Korra but I don't remember much of what she said." Ryu responded. Sara's smile quickly faded.

"D-Do you remember me catching you when you fell?" She asked.

"I didn't even know that happened. Wait, why would I have fallen?" Ryu asked.

"You created this big tornado and you were in it like at the top, it was so cool!" Yin said. Sara stepped out of the room for a bit. She stood against the wall right outside the room, a single tear running down her cheek.

"Wait so I was airbending _and_ waterbending?" Ryu asked.

"Yeah! you gotta see it," Yin said.

* * *

Two Months Later

Zaofu, for the most part, along with help from the United Forces had recovered. Every citizen did their part to help rebuild, and so did people from across the Earth Kingdom and across the world who came to Zaofu just to help.

Ryu had two women powdering his face, a task he saw useless even if the whole event was to be televised. Ki and Yin helped straighten out his long green train with gold trimming that had the Zaofu insignia on his back. Under the train, Ryu wore his metal suit with fancy gold cuffs on his arms. He wore the necklace and ring he got in Ba Sing Se. Sara walked in with a polished wooden box in hand.

"You're almost up, Yin and Ki, we need to get to our spots," She said as she left, Yin and Ki followed. The women stopped powdering Ryu's face and he left the room as well.

"And now, to present the awards for those who valiantly saved this city, Avatar Ryu."

Suyin said as she stepped away from the mic. She took her seat in one of the chairs positioned on the steps of City Hall as the doors opened. Ryu stepped out of City Hall, the sun glistening on his clothing as he stepped up to the mic. Everyone stood up. A light green carpet ran down the steps of City Hall and in between the two groups of chairs on either side of it. Hundreds of people showed up from around the world. Billionaires, world leaders, and those who were just there to help.

"Good Morning," Ryu started.

"Just two short months ago, this city was taken over by terrorists. If it weren't for the citizens of Zaofu, this city would not exist today. If I could, I would give a medal to each and every citizen for defending their homeland and not giving up when the situation got bleak. But for now, let's honor those who made a significant impact on retaking the city."

Ryu opened the box and picked up the first of six medals. A man came over to hold the box while he presented the medals. Yin, Ki, Dragon, Sara, and the monk all walked down the green carpet and up the stairs of City Hall. When they got up there, he placed a medal around each of their necks. They turned around, and the crowd cheered. They stepped down the steps of City Hall and turned back around. The all smiled and bowed. In response, the whole crowd bowed. Not a single person was standing upright as far as the eye could see. Ryu closed his eyes and bowed back.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! I really hope you enjoyed the book. The next book will start, where Ryu now has to master fire with the threat of the Peratil Clan looming over him. Remember to give feedback, follow, favorite, and comment! It really helps!**


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